1) Squarespace
Squarespace
This is my favorite of the bunch. It’s not free. Pricing starts at $8 per month. That’s what a lot of us pay for shared hosting, so it’s pretty reasonable. This system is very user friendly and the menus and dialogs are very Applesque. One of their claims to fame is that Kevin Rose uses it. They also feature some really nice designs.

2) Brightegg

Brightegg is also a paid service (they do offer a free package) with pricing starting at $19 per month. If you happen to be a designer, they have a program where you can make money by submitting your designs. Another great thing about Brightegg is that they have a private label service.

3) Weebly

This site builder is totally free and features some nice designs. They offer a developer API that allows some extended functionality.

4) Synthasite

Finally we have Synthasite, a completely free site builder that offers (like the others) a design, hosting, and custom domains (custom domains cost money).

These are all great products and for canned websites, they have some very impressive designs and features. For free or for the cost of hosting, you can slap nice site together in minutes.

There’s a real problem with content management systems. I’m not talking about the big enterprise platforms. I’m talking about the basic content management software that simple web sites need and use. They often do too much. That’s right. Modern content management software does too much.

For example, I have a friend with a pretty average technical acumen. This friend needed a simple website for an organization that he had started and I, being a web nerd, decided to help him set up a site. So we did the usual. I went to Godaddy and bought a suitable domain along with a basic Linux hosting account, while he stared over my shoulder in wonder. I found a template for his site and we paid a fair price for a nice pre-made design. So the next step was to get him up and running with a cms so he could manage all of his content without needing any further assistance from me.

My first instinct was to go with Drupal. I have tooled around with Drupal in the past and it has a good reputation among the web-savvy. So I installed Drupal, started configuring the site and I soon realized, this is way more functionality and configuration than my friend needs. Not to mention, it’s way more than he can handle. A little time with Joomla presented the same dilemma. These systems have too much complexity; too much functionality; too much configuration. Not only that, but working with the template frameworks of these systems was going to be a nightmare. Remember, I already spent some money on a pre-made template for this site. I was going to have to make the template fit the cms. Not fun.

So, with all these issues before me, I realized why so many developers end up rolling their own cms system. It’s because what’s out there is more than a simple site needs. A simple website needs a simple cms. Don’t get me wrong, Drupal, Joomla, Worpress and the like are all great systems and they have their markets, but often they are more complex than necessary for small sites. Another major issue with the standard content management system is the need to have a database running on your server and the need to install software. It’s always a problem to have to patch your cms because of some update, or deal with setting up a database to run your cms.

Just like software is moving more and more from the desktop to the cloud, it seems advantageous that server based systems might do the same. Instead of installing 10 versions of WordPress on the sites of 10 of your clients, on 10 different servers (all separate, all requiring maintenance), why not host your content in a central location? This way all of your client’s content is in one place and there are no software installations or databases to maintain. Centralizing content makes good sense. Using a CMS as a services makes good sense.

I realize there are lots (thousands) of content management systems out there and there’s no one system that’s right for everyone, but I think that Clover Content is right for most small sites and for people who manage a lot of sites for clients. Anyway, that’s why I boostrapped this startup and entered the arena. Let me know what you think.

Big thick tech books used to be my first step when learning a new technology, but where do you go once you understand the basics and you need a little help? Usually it’s Google searches that lead to discussion forums that require lot’s of weeding through bad answers and long threads. But recently some new resources have become available for developers who need a little help.

Stack Overflow
It’s always nice to have a forum you can go to when you run into a tough spot while developing software. Well, now that Stack Overflow launched (a few months back), developers can submit questions to a huge group of fellow coders. The suggestions are rated and the best answer rises to the top so you don’t have to dig through a ton of wrong answers to find the right one. It’s a great way to get answers and help others who are in need by sharing your expertise.

Refactor My Code
Have you ever wished you had a second set of eyes to look over some questionable code you cobbled together? Refactor My Code allows developers to submit code samples to other developers to have them critiqued and optimized. This is a great resource when you’re new to a language or platform and you just need a few pointers in highly specific situations.

There are a few requirements to enroll in the program: Your startup has to be younger than 3 years old, make less than $1 million per year in revenue, be web-based, and you must be enrolled by a network partner.

For an early stage startup with little cash, this is a great way to get full access to Microsoft development tools and server software. You can even use things like SQL Server in your hosted, production environment under the program, which goes a long way if you use their database.

I found a local network provider to give me enrollment access and I’m really impressed with how much software is available. It’s no joke. You pretty much get everything Microsoft offers for free. So, if you’re like me and you use the Microsoft .Net platform for your startup (even if you don’t), check out BizSpark to help you get off the ground.

http://extjs.com

It would be preferable if it had all of the functionality for taking payments, but that’s not critical. Thank you. I’ll share our own research next month (after we review and search on our own).

Ajax creates a benefit and a problem. The good side is that Ajax lets you do things with data without needing to refresh the page. The flip side is that every instance is a surprise to first time users. They never know exactly what to expect.

So there it is, the one interesting trend I saw at Barcamp. I’ll have to keep listening.

• Ektron CMS4000.NET
• DasBlog looks interesting, they have been running this project for several years.
• Blogtronix looks better than DasBlog from a design perspective. They also have a demo.
• .Text
• Allinta is more of a CMS engine.
• dBlog CMS is from Italy and may be written in ASP.
• Vinetype looks promising. You can go to vinetype.org to see an example.
• CommunityServer looks to be a full featured engine. You can go to communityserver.com for a hosted version.
• Subtext is a branch of .Text.
• eActivated Portal Framework

That’s it! If you know of any others, feel free to leave a comment and I will update this list. I’ll mention as well, that WordPress and most PHP / MySQL apps can be run on a Windows server if you install them.

Anybody can add a comment to the sidebar, and they are indicated by a little icon (seen in my screenshot). I think that someone could recycle this idea for blogs. Imagine if instead of having comments be at the end of the post, they could be inline? I think that would rock.

Bulletproof HTML: 37 Steps to Perfect Markup

“We are going to use AJAX instead of radio buttons – is that ok?”

During our meeting, they said that they had a cumulative effort of over 400 hours into building an ecommerce system, and the owners still have to make changes to products directly in the SQL database.

I can’t tell you how often I hear this. I’ve even done it myself! Years ago, I landed a big project to build an ecommerce site for a local company and by the time we had gotten some semblance of a site working, we were all de-motivated. The reality is that it would take several man-years to even come close to matching the features that a mature ecommerce application would have.

So what happened? We ended up scrapping all of our work (about 250 to 300 hours, all told) and installing an ecommerce system we had been keeping our eye on.

The end result was that in about a week, I had the web site done (and very little sleep, but it was done!). The client was more than satisfied, we had exceeded their objectives.

Back to the people I met with today — During our meeting I could see them addressing an internal struggle of whether they really wanted to throw out everything they had made. The facts are stunning: potentially invest hundreds of hours and continue as planned… or throw it out and start with a solid base.

In the end, when you add up the dollars, there are very few situations where it makes sense to build your own ecommerce engine. There’s just too much to think about. Security, payment gateways, discount codes, adding and removing products, order management, databases, affiliate systems, product categories, and more.

I have similar feelings about application development in general, but I’ll hold those for another day.

Continue Reading:

• The Problem With Ecommerce
• Product photography on ecommerce sites or how to be different online
• Truth #2

I’m involved with an exciting project with a fast approaching deadline. Because of this deadline the development team (database, JSP, and Flash) had to get involved early in the design phase making it difficult to update design templates down the road.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on this matter? I’ve been involved with such a large number of projects and had this same situation crop up, that I’m convinced that in most cases, design should be 100% complete before developers are called in.

By taking this approach, the developers can focus on development and not have to worry about new features or design changes.

Your thoughts?

I have to agree. I’ve known several developers who swore by Cold Fusion — exclaiming the virtues of fast development and easy to write code. Sounds a bit familiar. Almost like Ruby on Rails.

Have any of you used Agile Software Development methodologies and what have been your results? If you don’t know what it is, go ahead and read about it on the Wikipedia.

Here’s the whiteboard explanation without the acompanying 2 hour talk.

At the top of the whiteboard you can see a typical process for building a web site: Analysis, Design, Development, Testing.

The process for ASD is to create a mini-release every week. This allows developers to focus on simple tasks that they have that very week, and not become burdened by the big picture. It also keeps the customer involved at every stage and since they have the information they need at every step of the way, puts them in charge of the process (at a small level, anyways).

Definately a great concept and it has a lot of future in it, the trick is knowing how to implement it into your company.

Everything is completely specified and all of the screens are developed. We just need to tie them all together. Preferably a PHP developer, but we’ll consider others in the open source arena.

Please, no placement agencies or contracting agencies, principals only.

img.potential_error_image {
background-image: url('../../images/broken-image.png');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: 10px 10px;
background-color: white;
}

Thanks to Carmen for sending this one.

Django just recently surpassed both Symfony and Rails in terms of speed and is really hitting the mainstream.

But seriously, I have been pondering product names a lot lately. In doing so I’ve determined that their are a variety of ways to come up with names. I can’t decide if made up names have a better chance than word combos, or if it is smart to be descriptive with the name to communicate what the product does.

Generic Names — Books.com, Business.com, Search.com, and even traditional products like Word.

Blending Words — Adregate, Chatsum

Two Words — Hey Amigo, Basecamp, Blinksale, Wallnote, Eyespot, YouTube, Feed Burner, Fruitcast, Bloglines, Campfire, Backpack

Invented — Wufoo, Qunu, Zeedex, Itzle, Zimbio, Fluxiom, Jacuba

Single Word — Pickle.com, Flock

Unique Spelling — MajikWidget, del.icio.us, ma.gnolia

Add a Neat Ending — Shopify, Squidoo, Writely, Sproutit, Flickr, Technorati, Isolatr, Zoomr

Include a Number — 9rules, 37signals, Forty Media, 30 Second Rule, 30 Boxes

Descriptive Names — BackupMyBlog, BlogBurst, Meet With Approval, Measure Map, Writeboard, CalendarHub

Above all else, find something that’s available in a good domain name.

What do you think makes a successful product name?

Once you log in for the first time, they’ve got a handy looking intro paragraph with a few thumbnail screenshots, and then you can choose “Don’t show this message again.” When you click it, it fades away.

But then again, they say 11% still use the lower resolution. Ugh, so much to think about.

Update: Kyle at Warpspire has expanded on this topic, go read his article called Jumping Ship.

1. Began serious design work on our new web application
2. Came up with a new name for the product, and it even has a code name (the original name)
3. Bought the domain name (and it’s a hot name!)
4. Created final version of web application site map and promotion site map
5. Hashed out final user-relationship issues
6. Feeling so energized about a project for the first time in a year, I feel like I’m making progress…

Next steps:

1. Finish site design concept #1 and run it up the flagpoll
2. Design logo
3. Design and build development blog to track progress and get something online
4. Decide if the nature of the application will stay a secret until released
5. Begin writing content for site
6. Create additional wireframes and documentation
7. Finalize product pricing model
8. Find developer(s)

I’m really liking the simplicity of 16bugs. It is an online bug tracking system. I’m thinking about using 16bugs for our team to track bugs on projects.

MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and the like are getting a lot of love from the media and a lot of traffic these days. And why not? They are examples of great emerging trends online. They symbolize the fact that “Community” and their legions of users creating their own spaces and ideas trumps “Content” and the static information it represents. Big dollars are being spent. Whether it be half-billion dollar acquisitions or burning a million a month in bandwidth, the net is certainly exciting these days, even if you aren’t a designer or developer. If something catches on and everyone is there, then everyone wants to be there..for now anyway. But do we all have the same needs? Away from all the big names and mass audiences, there’s something deeper growing. It’s all along the long-tail, it’s all the niches and their networks and these are growing even faster. This growth is even stronger and smarter than the massive community sites.

Consider the unique tools each niche is building. These offerings have never been more desirable or compelling or even available…

Think about runners, or simply exercise enthusists, where now your shoes talk to your iPod, which talks to a network of runners worldwide who are all running against you, or with you, all displayed on a beautiful flash interface.

Think about portable gamers, Now you are on your couch or over at McDonalds with your Nintendo DS playing the New Super Mario Bros. with someone across the planet. Who can collect the most coins, mash the most toadstools and smash the most blocks?

You can buy virtual land and sell it for profit in your SecondLife. Where do you stand in Warcraft and Xbox-LIVE rankings? What music are you and your friends and global music loving neighbors listening to right now in last.fm? How about my Dad and all those lost albums on vinyl he’s rediscovering the iTunes Music Store? Or scrapbooking stay-at-home-moms comparing their layouts? Or anyone with a cool t-shirt idea? Or families sharing journal entries and family photos? Or anyone discovering their ancestors?

As web developers, designers and entreprenuers…remember the niche. There are a billion unique things that deserve our creativity, intuition and insight and the opportunities today are limitless. What else do you see out there? Which niche are you going to build out?

Here’s the fix courtesy of Amara software:
Just after the last object in your HTML page, pop in the Javascript link:
script type=”text/javascript” src=”ieupdate.js”

Open a new document in Notepad or your HTML editor, and copy & paste the following content into it:
theObjects = document.getElementsByTagName("object");
for (var i = 0; i < theObjects.length; i++) {
theObjects[i].outerHTML = theObjects[i].outerHTML;
}

Save this file as ieupdate.js and upload both files to your server