As we mentioned in an earlier post, Applied Web Vitals is developing a line of website templates for the Adobe Contribute platform. These Contribute templates will be designed for plug-in-play use and will incorporate the latest SEO standards as well as clean, light XHTML and CSS code.

We anticipate our market for Contribute website templates to be end users and developers alike. Our basic Contribute template will be an excellent starting point for further development and third party application integration by web developers.

At this point, we would like to invite input on features and functions. Please share your wish list of top features with us. We also invite fellow Adobe Dreamweaver template gurus out there to chime in . . . and/or participate in development. Contact us to discuss getting in on the ground level of development.

Applied Web Vitals is a web design and development company. Please feel free to contact us to explore your next design, redesign or site enhancement project.

Quick announcement to Applied Web Vitals’ clients and others using the latest version of WordPress, version 2.6—the plugin PodPress, used for podcasting and video casting, is not working with the latest versions of WordPress. This issue has been outstanding for several weeks now and a resolutions does not appear to be available in the near future. For those interested, I can suggest an alternative to keep going. One that actually offers great advantages in media management, including sideshows, video and audio.

While on the topic of freeware though, some other thoughts have come to mind…

The reality of open and free technology catches up with us eventually. PodPress was developed and is maintained by a gracious individual who doesn’t profit from his work and offers it free to the public. Thousands (141,380 to be exact) have benefited and profited from this great tool. And at the same time, when it stops working, the same number of users come to a screeching halt. While some users like myself are occasional to frequent users, I know that others include large news syndications. What a great deal of faith and operating efficiencies we put into freeware!

Man, it hurts when your tools stop working! But if I tallied up the potential cost of all the freeware tools that I use, my business wouldn’t be able to afford them and wouldn’t be anywhere near where it is now.

…And so we appreciate the great benefits of the latest information revolution

Applied Web Vitals is a web design and development company. Please feel free to contact us to explore your next design, redesign or site enhancement project.

Our weekly Web Technology Discussion group will resume on Wednesday August 20th at 7pm - at The Market Commons Barnes & Noble cafe in Myrtle Beach. We will not be meeting 8/6 or 8/13.

Unless I get a special request otherwise, the main topic for 8/20 will be e-commerce. We’ll cover the different shopping cart options available, store functionality and things to consider, inventory management, payment processing and credit cards, and all the little details that need to happen before you get your first e-customer.

Thanks and I look forward to see anyone and everyone that’s interested in attending (it’s free by the way).

- Dominic

More info about the web technology discussion group.

We are pleased to share the launch our most recent client site, The Teak Hut at theteakhut.com. This South Carolina company has been in operation for a number years as a brick-&-mortar business. Several months ago, Applied Web Vitals was consulted to explore the move to e-commerce. At the same time, The Teak Hut decided to go for a full site redesign to better reflect the quality of their product–indoor and outdoor teak furniture.

Through a close dialog with the client, the site was mapped and a design, modeled after select premier online retailers, was mocked up for review and an enthusiastic approval.

TheTeakHut.com was built on the Dreamweaver template structure to give the client full site management control with Adobe Contribute. With our developed template platform in place, The Teak Hut was able to take the reins right out of gates and begin adding and removing content, creating new pages and optimizing their keywords for search engine placement.

The shopping cart application of choice was Ecommerce Templates, a robust and versatile cart that could be customized to meet The Teak Hut’s needs. Integrated throughout the site, a smooth shopping experience was achieved by seamlessly weaving the dynamic shopping cart functionality into every page on the site.

With sixty unique product categories and a very large, and growing, list of products, the ability to integrate the online shopping cart with the company’s Quickbooks POS system was an absolute must. The project required several e-commerce customizations and third part integrator, and in the end a one-of-a-kind solution was tailored for The Teak Hut.

For additional information on e-commerce websites

For additional information on Adobe Contribute, 2

Applied Web Vitals is a web design and development company. Please feel free to contact us to explore your next design, redesign or site enhancement project.