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Glossary
This is a list of words and definitions for some commonly used Adalo phrases and lingo!
Description
Your account settings contain information such as your team members, name, payment and plan information, email, password management, domains, developer mode, and other settings. You can access it by clicking on the profile icon 
in the top right of the Adalo Editor, then clicking Settings.
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In-Depth
An Action in Adalo is the brains behind what happens in your app and are typically denoted by the color Yellow. Actions can be placed on components, screens, and list items and are responsible translating what a user does in the app into changes in the database or in the app itself. Without Actions you wouldn't be able to do anything in your app! Some types of actions include creating database records, updating records, deleting records, linking to screens or websites, and sending notifications.
If components are like nouns, we like to think of actions as verbs. Actions are what connect components to the properties of your database and allow you to customize your app's user experience. Actions can be used to direct the user to another screen, to allow them to click and interact with your components, and to submit data to a database.
- Authentication
- Log in
- Log out
- Sign up
- Mobile
- Share
To learn about Custom Actions, which you can use to integrate your Adalo app with other systems, click here.
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According to infoworld.com, an aggregation is a specialized form of association between two or more objects in which each object has its own life cycle, but there exists an ownership as well. ***unfinished
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Airbase is a "single automated spend management" platform. According to their website, "Airbase combines bill payments, corporate cards, and reimbursements onto a single platform with approval workflows, accounting automation, and reporting." Your Adalo apps are compatible with Airbase. Read More >
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Android is a mobile-first operating system for phones and tablets that is developed, maintained, and distributed by Google. The operating system comes in various "flavors" depending on the device it is installed on. Currently about 73% of the world's mobile phones run on some version of Android.
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In-Depth
An API (application programming interface) is a web service that uses links (called endpoints) on a computer server to perform various actions programmatically rather than through a GUI (graphical user interface). All applications use APIs in some form or another. The interface we see and interact with in apps is just a means to easily tell an API what we would like it to do for us. In Adalo, you can use APIs to pull in data from other sources, create data elsewhere, or perform actions like send emails, SMS messages, or crop photos.
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An API endpoint is "one end of a communication channel. When an API interacts with another system, the touchpoints of this communication are considered endpoints. Each endpoint is the location from which APIs can access the resources they need to carry out their function." Read More >
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An API Key "is a code that gets passed in by computer applications. The program or application then calls the API or application programming interface to identify its user, developer or calling program to a website. Application programming keys are normally used to assist in tracking and controlling how the interface is being utilized. An API key can act as a secret authentication token as well as a unique identifier. Typically, the key will come with a set of access rights for the API that it is associated with." Read More >
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In Adalo, App Settings contain options such as the app name, description, icon, Mixpanel token, team assignment, editor display settings, app copying and deletion, and more. You can access it by clicking the gear icon on the left menu in the Adalo editor 
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An automatic field can be used in the forms component of Adalo to automatically fill out fields for a user. Visible fields are fields that the user can change, and automatic ones are ones that are filled out in the background of your app. This is useful for doing things like generating IDs, incrementing counts, and joining text together. Keep in mind that since the user cannot change these, it's up to you to make sure they are filled out if you use them.
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The Available Data section of a screen's sections tells you which types of data are being sent to the current screen from other screens. If data is missing or conflicting, this section will tell you which data types are having issues and which screens might be causing the issue.
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In-Depth
In the Adalo editor, you'll have the option to add and edit text in your app. In the Branding tab under the Fonts dropdown menu, you have the option to select both Headings and Body fonts (screenshot at top of In-Depth section).
Selecting a Body font will make all Body text in your Adalo app appear as the font you've selected. This tool's purpose is just to help you as the app creator maintain uniform branding. You always have the option to manually select a different font for certain text, if you so choose. Take a peek at the In-Depth section to learn how to do so.
A screenshot of the Fonts menu in the Branding tab
Aside from via the Branding tab, you can also edit your Headings and Body fonts by selecting the component containing the text you want to change the font. When you do, a lefthand menu will appear for the component.
Once you do so, simply select the palette icon that appears next to the Magic Text icon below the "Enter Text" box.
When you do, to the right of the icon will appear the name of the font, the text thickness, and the color of the text (pictured below).
When you select the name of the font, you'll have the option to select either "Heading Font," "Body Font," or "CHANGE FONTS." Select "CHANGE FONTS" and it'll bring you to the "Font" section of the "Branding" tab, where you can change your currently selected Heading and Body Fonts.
There are certain components that require different actions to change the font of text within them. To do so, select those components and scroll down to the "Edit Styles" button in the lefthand menu. For example, you can edit the font of the text in Forms by selecting the dropdown menu corresponding to the text you want to edit, then selecting "Edit Styles."
Step 1: Select the form component on a screen
Step 2: Select the element of the component whose text you want to edit
Step 3: Select "Edit Styles"
Step 4: Select the "Font" dropdown menu to change the font
Note: When editing font this way, you can choose between only the pre-selected Headings and Body fonts you've selected in the "Branding" tab.
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A bug is another word for an error in the code of a computer program that causes it to produce unexpected results or behave in unexpected ways. A bug may also cause the program to fail to run altogether.
Debugging is the process of locating and removing errors (or bugs) from a computer program. Read More >
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A build simply refers to a file containing a version of your app's code. Your app may go through multiple builds, a new one coming into being every time you make substantial changes to it.
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In the Adalo Editor, the canvas is the location in which you'll find your app's screens. You can drag and drop screens onto the canvas to start editing them. When you drag an unwanted component from a screen onto the canvas, it'll disappear.
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According to material-ui.com, a chip is a compact element that represents an input, attribute, or action. Read More >
In the Adalo Editor, you have access to a component that utilizes chips – the "Horizontal Chip List" (pictured below).
And here's how it looks on a screen:
Horizontal Chip List highlighted in yellow
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*mention how it's different from copy - David
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In-Depth
Your app's Database is made up of collections. If you were to describe what your app does and who it's for, the nouns you use in that description would be your collections.
Collections are objects of data. For example, for a food delivery app, you might include a collection for your app's users and a collection for food orders to keep track of each user and what they've ordered. If your app can stream TV shows and movies, you would want to have a collection for TV shows and a collection for movies. For an example with visuals, view the In-Depth tab.
Each of your app's collections can be customized to include any number of Properties. So to tie it all together, if collections are the nouns of your app, then properties are the adjectives that describe them.
Here's an example of the Database collections of a food ordering app:
As you can see, each collection is just a grouping of the app's important nouns.
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Components are the building blocks of your Adalo app. All of the elements that appear on your screen – lists, buttons, text, etc. – are components.
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A component is a functional unit within Adalo. Think "Button" or "App Bar" or even "list". There are many components in Adalo that help you build your apps. The Component Marketplace is a platform for developers to create and share components with others - they enhance the functionality of the apps that can be made with Adalo.
There are different types of marketplace components - free & paid. Some are built by Adalo and some have been built by developers in the larger Adalo ecosystem.
Marketplace components are different from Private Components (sometimes referred to as Private Libraries) as the latter is made only for the consumption of the developer of the component. Marketplace components are available for all Adalo makers to use (either for free, or for a fee).
For more information on the marketplace and a glimpse of the available components, check out the Adalo Marketplace. If you wish to develop a marketplace component, check out: Adalo | Marketplace Developers.
If you need support with Adalo's Marketplace component, please reach out to us by submitting a support ticket. If you need support with a component developed by a third-party developer, please reach out to the developers.
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You can add logic to your actions so that they only happen when certain rules apply
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In-Depth
You may want a component in your Adalo app to show only sometimes. This is what's known as conditional visibility. For example, let's say you want one screen of your app to display a continue button for the user to continue to the next screen, but you only want the button to appear after the user has entered the correct text into a text input. You'd apply conditional visibility to the continue button to appear only after the proper text has been entered into the input. Check out the In-Depth section for a description of how to do this.
To apply conditional visibility to a component, first select the component and navigate to the lefthand menu.
Next, select the three vertical dots in the top right. A dropdown menu will appear.
Select Change Visibility. At the top of the lefthand menu, a dropdown menu labeled Visibility will appear. Select it and change the component visibility from Always Visible to Sometimes Visible.
After selecting Sometimes Visible, another dropdown menu will appear, this one labeled Will be visible if.... You can use this dropdown menu to set parameters for when the component will and won't be visible.
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In-Depth
Config. files, or configuration files, are "editable text files that information required for the successful operation of a program." Read More >
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This action creates a record in a database.
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Custom Actions are actions that you create yourself. They are API calls to external services to perform certain actions with that outside service. For instance, Adalo doesn't send emails by itself, but you could create a custom action that sends a command to SendGrid to send an email. The custom action can then be placed on buttons, list items, forms, and other components.
Here's a list of just some of the things you can do with custom actions:
- Communication
- Send an email (Mailchimp, Sendgrid, Amazon SES, Gmail etc)
- Send a text (Twilio, Message Bird, etc)
- Send a chat message (Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc)
- Trigger a phone call (Twilio)
- Send a fax
- Trigger alerts (PagerDuty)
- Productivity & Project Management
- Create a calendar event
- Create a contact
- Create task (Trello, Jiro, etc)
- Social Media & Marketing
- Social Media Post (Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, Facebook, etc)
- Register someone for a Webinar (Zoom, Goto Webinar)
- Create Leads, Contacts, and Subscribers (Mailchimp, Hubspot, Salesforce, etc)
- Start or End an Ad Campaign (Google Ads)
- Post to an RSS feed
- Development
- Create database records (MongoDB, SQL Server, Google BigQuery)
- Run some code (JavaScript, AWS Lamba function, etc)
- Track Issues (Github)
- Customer Service
- Create a ticket (Zendesk, Hubspot, Freshdesk, Salesforce, etc)
- Create a chat conversation (Helpscout, Intercom, etc)
- Logistics
- Create a shipping invoice
- Create Signature Request (Hellosign)
- Create an Order (Shopify)
- Create a custom t-shirt order
- Accounting
- Create a customer (Quickbooks, Xero, etc)
- Create an Invoice (Quickbooks, Xero, etc)
- Data Analysis
- Verify an email address
- Look up astrological sign
- Sentiment analysis
- Look up a word’s definition
- Geocode an address
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Delete is one of the four actions able to take place in the database of your Adalo apps. *unfinished
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Located outside of Adalo, these accounts are where you set up your Google Play and Apple App Store native apps.
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A DNS Provider is usually the company that you purchased your domain name from, but you can also use a different company as the DNS provider. You can think of the DNS provider like the deliverer of a package you purchased. If you purchase a domain from one company, you can choose a different company to "deliver" that domain to your users. This is also sometimes known as a DNS Resolver.
Description
A DNS Record is a piece of information telling the DNS Provider how to connect the different pieces of your website. For instance, you may have a website on Wix, Mailchimp for emails, Stripe for payments, and Adalo for your app - all of them are on your custom domain name and DNS records tell the DNS provider where to get and send the information.
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A domain name is the text one would type into a browser window to reach a particular website, or simply put, the name of a website. A domain name does not include the entire web address, but just the name of the organization that the address belongs to. Read More >
A Custom Domain is a custom, branded domain name for your website. For example, Adalo's custom domain is the "Adalo" portion of adalo.com. Read More >
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"An Editor is a computer program that permits the user to create or modify data (such as text or graphics) especially on a display screen," according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary.
The Adalo Editor is a virtual workspace for creating apps. In it, you have access to numerous useful tools and components to help you create and customize your apps to your heart's content.
The Adalo Editor can be accessed by simply logging into your Adalo account using the button in the top right corner on the home page of the Adalo website. When you first begin using Adalo, a prompt to take a tour of the Adalo Editor will pop up on your screen. This tour is accessible at any time, even if you've already taken it.
A screenshot of the Adalo Editor
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The File Picker component is used in custom forms to give the user the option to add files from their devices. The file picker presently allows the following types of files:
'image/jpeg',
'image/png',
'image/gif',
'video/mp4',
'video/avi',
'video/mpeg',
'video/quicktime',
'video/x-msvideo',
'video/x-ms-wmv',
'video/webm',
'video/ogg',
'audio/mpeg',
'audio/mp4',
'application/pdf',
'application/x-compressed',
'application/x-zip-compressed',
'application/zip',
'application/x-zip',
'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document',
'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet',
'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation',
If there is a file type that we currently do not support that you require, please add an Adalo | Feature Request on our board, and you will be notified as we make progress towards implementing these requests.
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In-Depth
In the Adalo editor, you'll have the option to add and edit text in your app. In the Branding tab under the Fonts dropdown menu, you have the option to select both Headings and Body fonts (screenshot at top of In-Depth section).
Selecting a Headings font will make all Heading text in your Adalo app appear as the font you've selected. This tool's purpose is just to help you as the app creator maintain uniform branding. You always have the option to manually select a different font for certain text, if you so choose. Take a peek at the In-Depth section to learn how to do so.
A screenshot of the Fonts menu in the Branding tab
Aside from via the Branding tab, you can also edit your Headings and Body fonts by selecting the component containing the text you want to change the font. When you do, a lefthand menu will appear for the component.
Once you do so, simply select the palette icon that appears next to the Magic Text icon below the "Enter Text" box.
When you do, to the right of the icon will appear the name of the font, the text thickness, and the color of the text (pictured below).
When you select the name of the font, you'll have the option to select either "Heading Font," "Body Font," or "CHANGE FONTS." Select "CHANGE FONTS" and it'll bring you to the "Font" section of the "Branding" tab, where you can change your currently selected Heading and Body Fonts.
There are certain components that require different actions to change the font of text within them. To do so, select those components and scroll down to the "Edit Styles" button in the lefthand menu. For example, you can edit the font of the text in Forms by selecting the dropdown menu corresponding to the text you want to edit, then selecting "Edit Styles."
Step 1: Select the form component on a screen
Step 2: Select the element of the component whose text you want to edit
Step 3: Select "Edit Styles"
Step 4: Select the "Font" dropdown menu to change the font
Note: When editing font this way, you can choose between only the pre-selected Headings and Body fonts you've selected in the "Branding" tab.
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HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996. It is a law passed in the U.S. to protect employees' health insurance coverage when they change jobs or lose their job, provides standards for patient health, administrative and financial data interchange, and governs the privacy and security of health information records and transactions. Read More >
Currently, Adalo does not provide HIPAA compliance, as it requires a special document called a BAA (Business Associate Agreement) to be signed by both Adalo and the maker, however there are plans for Adalo to offer this in the future.
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In-Depth
A home screen is the first screen a user encounters on an app. Most of the core functions of the app live on the home screen, and all subsequent navigation stems from the home screen. In your Adalo app, you can choose which screen will be your home screen and customize it accordingly.
In the Adalo editor, your home screen will be denoted by the label "Home" and a house icon 
.
For an example of a home screen, take a look a this sample chat app. The home screen serves as a hub from which you can start new chats, navigate to existing chats, and view your profile.
Home screen pictured middle-right (between "Add Profile Picture" and "Conversation")
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In the Adalo editor, you can clump components on a screen together into a single group by clicking down with your mouse and dragging across all of the component's you'd like included in the group, then selecting Make Group in the lefthand menu. This is known as grouping. Once components are grouped together, they can be moved around from screen to screen, copied, pasted, and deleted as a group to make customization easier for you. You can even group together components to create lists.
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iOS (iPhone Operating System) is Apple's iPhone operating system. It is the operating system employed on all of Apple's mobile devices, meaning iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. Your Adalo apps are iOS native, meaning that they've been built in a specific programming language so that they're compatible with Apple devices.
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This action can link to a different screen in your app or to an eternal website.
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'Logic is the sequence of operations performed by computer hardware or software. It refers to the algorithms and operational sequences that computer hardware and software follow. Hardware logic is contained in the electronic circuits of a computer. Software logic, or program logic, is contained in the placement of instructions written into the software's code by a programmer.' Read More >
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In-Depth
One type of component you can add to your Adalo app is a List. Lists are quite powerful and offer a host of functionalities. You can connect them to your Database to display information from desired Collections and even allow list items to create actions, such as link to a different screen or update the current user's information.
The Adalo Editor currently offers seven different types of lists. They are:
- Simple List
- Card List
- Image List
- Avatar List
- Horizontal Card List
- Horizontal Chip List
- Custom List
To add a list to your Adalo app, select the Plus button
in the upper left corner of the editor to open the lefthand menu.
Scroll down until you see the dropdown menu labeled Lists
Select the Lists dropdown menu and choose whichever type of list you'd like.
Drag and drop the desired list onto the desired screen on the canvas to the right.
For this example, a simple list was dragged onto the far right screen
You can then select the list to edit it to your heart's content.
*Note: You can also create a list by grouping certain components together and then selecting Make List in the lefthand menu that appears.
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In-Depth
Magic Text is information pulled from records within your database. This can be anything from names, numbers, dates, or photo URLs. Think of Magic Text as a placeholder for information that will change based on a user's actions or information.
Magic Text can be accessed anywhere you see the sparkly T icon 
or where you see the sparkly X icon 
which is used in number fields and formulas. Upon clicking, it will open up menus for you to choose from your collections the pieces of data you want to display.
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A modal is like a popup that serves as either an intermediate screen or a temporary screen. It's typically used to present options to the users about records, ask them to confirm something, or even edit records with a form of some kind.
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Native simply means that an application software has been built in a specific programming language so that it's compatible with certain devices. Your Adalo apps are both iOS and Android native, meaning they're built on both operating systems and do not necessarily need internet connectivity to run on Apple and Android devices.
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An operating system is a computer's "software that communicates with the hardware and allows other programs to run. It is comprised of system software, or the fundamental files your computer needs to boot up and function. Every desktop computer, tablet, and smartphone includes an operating system that provides basic functionality for the device." Read More >
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Play App Signing is an optional process by which Google verifies your apps and any changes that are made to it. By opting in to Play App Signing, you are giving Google permission to hold the certificates required to make changes to your app. You can check which apps have Play App Signing enabled, by going to your Play Store Console, clicking on the app you want to check, clicking the Setup tab in the left menu, then choosing App Integrity. If your app is enrolled you will see a Green check mark and a "Enabled" message in the top left.
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In the Branding section of the lefthand menu in the Adalo Editor, you'll have the option to customize your app's colors. We offer this to give you greater customizability and make coherent branding easier. The Adalo Editor offers the option to choose both primary and secondary colors for various elements of your app, including background screen, app bars, icons, buttons, etc. Your primary color will be the dominant color of your app's elements.
Take the Adalo website for example. The primary color is teal and the secondary color would be gold:
Here's another quick example in case you're still unsure about how primary and secondary colors are implemented in your app.
Screenshot of the Color menu in Branding tab
Click on Primary Color and Secondary Color for an extensive color selection tool
The colors you choose will be tastefully implemented into your app
*Note: You have the option to choose whether or not individual elements like buttons and app bars use your primary and secondary colors. They are just more easily accessible to make uniform branding easier.
**Note: You can always change your primary and secondary colors throughout the app creation process.
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In-Depth
Databases in Adalo are made up of Collections. Properties are the individual categories of information that make up each collection. For example, in a "Users" collection (a database collection of your app's users), you might include properties for your users' Email, Username, Password, Full Name, and Profile Picture. You can customize the number and types of properties each of your collections includes.
Here's a more in-depth visual to accompany the example mentioned in the description, as well as instructions on how to access properties.
Navigate to Database in the lefthand menu for a list of your app's collections:
To access a collection's properties, select a collection from your list of collections:
For this example, the Users collection is selected. A dropdown menu of properties will open:
From this dropdown menu, you can add and delete properties, as well as select a property to edit the records therein.
As you can see, there are various types of properties you can have in each collection. The properties with the link icon (looks like two papers and a paper clip) are called relationships and are slightly more complex, so you can disregard them for now, or learn more about them here).
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In the Branding section of the lefthand menu in the Adalo Editor, you'll have the option to customize your app's colors. We offer this to give you greater customizability and make coherent branding easier. The Adalo Editor offers the option to choose both primary and secondary colors for various elements of your app, including background screen, app bars, icons, buttons, etc. You may want to choose a secondary color to accent the dominant color of your app.
Take the Adalo website for example. The primary color is teal and the secondary color would be gold:
Here's a quick example in case you're still unsure about how primary and secondary colors can be implemented in your app.
Screenshot of the Color menu in Branding tab
Click on Primary Color and Secondary Color for an extensive color selection tool
The colors you choose will be tastefully implemented into your app
*Note: You have the option to choose whether or not individual elements like buttons and app bars use your primary and secondary colors. They are just more easily accessible to make uniform branding easier.
**Note: You can always change your primary and secondary colors throughout the app creation process.
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Stripe is an online payment processing software. Through Stripe's API, your Adalo app can send and receive payments online. You can enable Stripe on your app by downloading the Stripe Kit Component found in the Component Marketplace.
To gain access to the Stripe component, navigate to the Component Marketplace in the lefthand menu, find it among the list of marketplace components, and click "Install"
Select "Explore Marketplace" and then scroll until you find Stripe Kit
Stripe Kit component pictured right
After installing, you will be able to find the Stripe Kid component in the "Installed" dropdown menu that appears under the "Add Component" section of the lefthand menu.
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A subdomain acts as a specific and different version of your regular domain name. They are often setup as app.yoursite.com or docs.yoursite.com or support.yoursite.com where the words app, docs, and support serve as the subdomains for yoursite.com. Subdomains are setup as DNS records under the top-level domain (TLD) - such as yoursite.com. The exact where subdomains are hosted depends on the service. For example, you may use app.yoursite.com for your Adalo app, you may use docs.yoursite.com for your Gitbook help docs, and you might use support.yoursite.com for your Hubspot help desk.
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A subscription is a form of payment plan in which customers make recurring payments to a business or organization for access to a product or service, usually at fixed intervals of time. Find out more about Adalo's subscription plans here!
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A web app, or web application, is a computer program that performs a certain function and is accessible via an internet connection. Some examples of web apps are email programs such as Gmail, the Google Drive apps, and chat apps like Discord.
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Last modified 3mo ago