I managed to break free for 30 minutes and wrap up a small bug in the WordPress Menu Creator. As it stands we are at version 1.0.2 which is only a maintenance release to fix some issues when using widgets in conjunction with the menu manager.

Version 1.0.3 is actually the one I’m most eager to see production ready as we are adding in a jQuery feature that allows you to change the sort order of menu items by simply dragging the field to the position you desire. I’ll also add in a new feature where it can be used in WordPress MU sites allowing an administrator to deactivate the “DELETE” feature for menus. Several people have reported that when using our product with WordPress MU that some users delete their menu’s causing errors in the rendered template.

The WordPress Menu Creator will also be updated to take advantage of WordPress 2.7 and the automatic update feature now in beta. Chances are we will release the OpenRealty Guides and WordPress Guides at the same time since they share similar core code features for structure and the updates underway will be applied across each of those FREE products.

You can download WP Realty and WP Menu Creator in the WordPress extensions directory. WP Realty was transferred to the EZPro Realty project and WP Menu Creator was developed for The Brokers Edge. OR Menu Creator will also be a free product of The Brokers Edge.

Here is the link on WordPress Plug-ins Directory

AWBS Template Designers Resource Kit

1. AWBS master layout template kit (of sorts) that is XHTML and CSS compliant for the most part.
2. Dreamweaver snippets I use for the drop in template tags
3. The JS Library
4. The Joomla External Modules code and video on how to use
5. The WordPress inclusion functions called wpglobal.php This allows you to put snippets from your blog in AWBS.
6. swfobject.js version 2.0 for the flash jpg slide show I have included
7. 3 videos outlining the use of the master layout for building templates.

Released as AWBS Template Kit – version 1.0 – the price is $39.95 and is available now.

I PROMISE I’VE GOTTEN EVERY ONE OF THE REQUESTS AND I’M NOT IGNORING YOU.  We had to change a very important feature and overlooked potential issue with duplicate listings issues in Open Realty as one of the beta testers discovered.  I PROMISE EVERY PERSON THAT SENT ME AN EMAIL; I’ll send you an email this evening with download link and the URL to the brief video instruction guide because I still do not have PDF or printable documentation completed.

I’ve been up to my neck with updating my css-grids system and the Open Realty Dreamweaver Extension update pending the release of Open Realty 2.5 and it has kept me round the clock busy with that and catching up on client projects specifically a shopping cart AWBS project now almost complete.

Side note: I hate using a blog as a thread for notices like this so I’ve finished my new site design and matched the design to BB Press so you I can provide support instead of using this blog and comments for such things.  I did finish the final stages of the flash presentation feature in the WP Featured Listings Plugin so you can have an animated flash slide show directly in the featured.  I’m sure it will break on some sites because the inclusion of SWFObject.js has proven not to work on two blogs which to this day I’m fully baffled as to why.  Anyway thats from beta testers so maybe they should update their blog theme.

THANK YOU SINCERELY FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

We have added a new file and folder in the plug-in for languages and would like to hire translators for 5 paragraphs of documentation. and 22 specific words in the language file.  For anyone interested we are looking for the following languages and need to know what your FEE will be for the translation.  German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and any other languages of interest are welcome.  Please use the contact form on my site if you are interested.  Although this plug-in is available by request I’d like to make it available with multi-lingual support.

Shane, my partner in hosting and I have about a half dozen servers across the web with various providers we market as Click Once Hosting. A few days ago after considering our expenses and each servers usage had come up with the idea that one server we have gets literally no traffic and that rather than try to fill it with websites and site hosting maybe we could use it to provide a way for people to remotely backup their sites on a scheduled bases.

Now the idea behind remote backups is to provide a secure way for people to backup their data from their existing domain by providing only ftp accounts and blocking all other IP’s from connecting as to avoid any unwanted traffic. Since cPanel or Plesk will not be needed we decided to start offering this feature to people interested in keeping backups of their data and set a pricing schedule based on bandwidth.

But is there a benefit for using this type of method for backing up data? I think so, one thing I’ve always been lucky enough to do is regularly backup my domains once a week and the database once a day to my local Linux box that sits right here next to my work station. Facts are facts and servers don’t last forever. Hard drive failure, viruses, hosting company loses power or doesn’t pay their bills and goes out of business among other hosting hazards are ever present.  So this solution to me seems like one people would be interested in having and I’ll be promoting it openly even though we generally do not provide open hosting this is a service we will make available to anyone interested. That leads us to yet another service we now offer.

Hosting your site on a mirror hosting server.

Shane and I had discussed taking our largest server with Rack Space in Texas and using it for mirror hosting for companies that need to have a backup solution for directing traffic in the event of high usage and or failure on the primary domain.  The facts are, many small companies that suffer from a virus or other tragic event regarding their domain NEVER come back.  Statistics show that most companies who lose their website having put time, energy and countless types of resources into never make a second attempt if all is lost.  Although many products and or site solutions do provide database backup utilities, some things are only salvageable by having an offsite backup or archive that may include the actual software running the site or simple things like media elements and documents.

Since the name of the game is rapid recovery, most companies that can afford mirror hosting use mirror hosting in having some redundancy to their products and services websites.  We wanted a way for the small entrepreneur or blogger to have a similar feature without breaking him in half.  Now many would argue another server or hosting provider will work just fine, why bother with a solution that is specifically setup for mirrors.  The simple fact is the risk factor involved in hosting mirrors on shared hosting servers that are not specifically setup for this service.  Many potential hazards can present itself causing sites to index incorrectly or even worse.  I personally maintain a mirror of all my blogs and all my sites on a server elsewhere that I update changes to daily in the event of an issue.  I simply go and switch my DNS to the new location should something happen to this server.  Here is the current pricing structure we have setup.

Remote FTP Backup (NOT HTTP WEB ACCESSIBLE)

• Basic plan up to 3500 meg per month $5 per /mo
• Silver plan up to 10 gb per month $7 per /mo
• Bronse plan up to 25 gb per month $8 per /mo
• Gold plan up to 50 gb per moth $9 per /mo
• Corporate level packages and Realtor solutions where there are large databases are quoted on a per client basis.

DNS Domain Mirror Solution

• Mirror 1 plan up to 30 GB space per month $6 per /mo
• Mirror 2 plan up to 50 GB space per month $6 per /mo
• Mirror 3 plan up to 75 GB space per month $10 per /mo
• Mirror 4 plan up to 100 GB space per moth $12 per /mo
• Corporate level packages and Realtor solutions where there are large databases are quoted on a per client basis.

I’ve not written sales material on this yet or even tried to promote it but I will get to that later in the week.  So please, if you need this service please do not hesitate to contact us.

Joomla announces that the release of the much anticipated full stable version 1.5 is now available for download. Although planned for by literally tens of thousands of developers and designers, many professionals, including myself have held off on our developments with great anticipation and a little apprehension before forging forward. This release although greatly anticipated as the cutting edge solution for professional web design and development, many experts believe that Joomla 1.5 will take considerable time to propagate throughout the web when compared to previous releases. This is mostly due to two primary factors; The very lofty plug-in component inventory for Joomla 1.0+ which may take time to see transitions to 1.5 and the current level of available documentation and member interaction about Joomla 1.5 in the forums. Although Joomla 1.5 is a hot topic, the general attitude throughout has been “lets see what happens with the stable release first”.

Here in our own camp; comprised mostly of those who use CMS in commerce and Real Estate solutions, have been watching the progress of Joomla very patiently. The much anticipated release now provides us with a viable product in which to examine in depth as we compare it to a long list of promised changes and the even longer list of speculated changes for a more accurate assessment of Joomla. Thats of course great news, and now that this release is finally available we can move forward with the release of the Joomla 1.5 Rapid Template Design Series scheduled for sale February 20th as mentioned in dozens of places throughout the web.

Joomla 1.5 Templates and Joomla Template Design

This release of Joomla will likely set the standard for all other CMS solutions to follow considering the global appeal and adoption of CMS solutions in recent years.  Joomla has been on the forefront of CMS solutions chosen by professionals who depend on a reliable code base for mission critical websites on a global scale.  Since the beginning of the CMS trend, Joomla (and its predecessor Mambo)  have been the #1 choice for designers and developers in part because of the management and publishing structure used by Joomla along with the exhaustive amount of resources produced by third party vendors around the world.

With templates being easily built and readily available, free in most cases, Joomla 1.5 in my professional opinion will experience a higher rate of growth in the area of template  design above all else.  Although it appears that there is exhaustive mention of updating plugin components to work with 1.5 natively, the time frame in which these enhancement products become available may prove to be slow at first as I mentioned the anticipation of a final product has held off many from completing their updates.  Because of the initial anticipated rapid growth of templates and template design tools, I have put my own product into high gear for an early release.  The Rapid Template Design Series will benefit professional as well as students of design greatly in providing solutions for building truly impressive designs in a market that appears to have no end.

Contact me directly for information on early release versions of the Joomla RTDS.

Some time ago I purchased a handful of Itronix computers through ebay in hopes that I would have affordable entry level computer durable enough to give to my youngest daughters. Each computer was sure to suffer some battle scars as the machines get hauled around which had me concerned. After a great deal of searching I was glad to discover that eBay had several rugged laptops from Itronix listed and all reviews for the item were quite positive. Retailing originally at or about $3,500 it became clear that I had found the ideal solution. A great buy considering other options, after upgrading memory and hard drives the total investment proved to cost less even combined than a well put together desktop system. My girls are happy with their new found mobility and rugged features of the laptops so I’m happy.

I ended up winning the bids on three IX-250 models and a single IX-260 all in relatively flawless condition as each was a corporate lease return item. The only issue I discovered was the absolute lack of support software and system drivers necessary to load an Operating System on each as these machines are on average, 3 – 5 years old. However, after spending many days of searching downloading and installing software, I decided to package each of the driver packages up in case someone else finds the need for the software. Below is a basic outline and download link should you consider similar options.

Itronix Go Book IX 250 – Software Drivers

The Go Book IX-250 is a great entry level machine for children and of all those I’ve stumbled upon, I’m glad I found several with CD-ROM’s as not all are equally equipped.

Each has a P4 CPU running at 850 MHz and CD-ROM and a touch screen with stylus. Naturally with the plummeting cost of memory and storage devises, I quickly upgraded to 512 meg of RAM and a 60GB shock resistant IBM hard drive. An affordable WiFi card and new stylus for each put three of my girls in command like never before. No fighting over the computer anymore and each machine is capable of running several learning game software programs they love and plenty of MSN and chat features keeps em busy for many hours a day.

IX 250 Software Download  For Additional downloads for the Itronix Computers is available in the Downloads Area

Itronix Go Book IX 260 – Software Drivers

This single machine I purchased for myself after having my Dell crash on me only to discover that tech support with Dell was vastly lacking. Not only was the Dell computer tech support call forwarded to India, the language barrier proved so difficult I still haven’t been able to resolve the problems related to hardware to this day. So Dell is OUT and an affordable travel worthy bullet proof tough book is in. Costing about $500 and change the IX 260′s feature an 1.7ghz CPU that can be upgraded along with the RAM and HD to compete with similarly older machines but still providing the forgiving design characteristics of a rugged laptop should a coffee cup spill over onto the keyboard.

After my brother examined the machine, he set out to purchase several off of ebay for his construction company for off site estimators and project appraisers. His wife, a professional real estate insurance agent often finds the need to photograph properties and would love to have a solution that could survive traveling woes and the Rugged Itronix seems to be a sure win as computing power is not as essential as durability in both their occupations.

Should you end up with the Itronix IX-260 please find the software drivers here.

IX 260 Software Download
 For Additional downloads for the Itronix Computers is available in the Downloads Area

Military and Law Enforcement Grade Computing

A few final notes on the computers is that not all of them come equipped for you to install an Operating System via a CD-ROM or DVD. Since many of those on eBay are either Law Enforcement turn-ins, these Military grade computers very rarely have the kinds of common peripherals that normally come in your average laptop. Ideal for contractors, construction related businesses or just a person that wants to toss the computer in the back seat of his H2 before he heads out fishing as I do; then these are ideal computers. I figured if the Military and Police Departments find them rugged enough to use than my three youngest daughters will find them difficult to destroy. Weaning kids on computers is not really avoidable. The idea is to get them started on computers that can survive spilled juice, a drop down the stairs, bumps and bangs getting in and out of a car among all the other potential hazards was my goal. These computers, each less than $300 was WiFi capable, touch screen and multi media capable, have proven to be great first computers for children.

It seems to be an increasingly popular request by people wanting to take a design they find in a template club or template house and have it converted to function with a CMS. The converting of stock templates from Boxed Art, Template Monster, and other template suppliers into a fully dynamic solution for popular CMS can be a rather complex chore. Many of these template suppliers provide visually attractive designs in largely static variants that are all to often also coded using standards now since expired.

Taking one of these designs and converting it to a valid XHTML / CSS layout then porting the template to work with Joomla, Open Realty, WordPress among others is really a task best suited for the Rapid Template Design Series. This single minded approach assists myself and my partner with the kind of conversion speed necessary to put the RTDS through its paces.

But how much is a conversion to one of these flavors of CMS solutions? Lets look at just three in summary to help you get an idea.

Joomla – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for Joomla CMS $125+

Joomla as many would agree, is likely the worlds most popular and effectively built CMS solutions available today. What once cost corporations and government agencies tens of thousands of dollars in the past can now be done for a fraction of the cost. What I mean by that statement is that CMS solutions were and quite honestly still are expensive investments. With the availability of applications like Joomla the cost can be reduced and better allocated toward training and features in design that better suit the visitors needs.

Taking a template from one of the template suppliers and converting it is by no means a quick operation as many things need to be taken into consideration. When such requests are asked of us we always recreate the design in XHTML / CSS valid layout prior to porting it to Joomla.

WordPress – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for WordPress $125+

WordPress stands in my fully biased position as the ONLY blog worthy of attention by serious site owners. I make such a bold statement like that after spending several years working with this marvel of publishing prowess and I have found no application quite like it anywhere on the web.

When serious businesses want to improve market effectiveness many opt in for WordPress. Every single real estate site I’ve ever built that ranked and did so well, did so because of WordPress. I can go on for hours on the ways we achieve this but very few words would articulate what WordPress is prepared to provide out of box.

The simple fact is no one wants a site that looks like someone else’s (carbon copy that is). So many times we take clients Photoshop concepts or templates from a variety places and convert them to work with WordPress after XHTML / CSS validation is achieved. The powerful benefits in the RTDS makes this possible for a fraction of the cost of a custom design and reduces turn around to an afternoon in most cases. WordPress template conversions are particularly suited to my field of expertise.

Open Realty – Converting templates to XHTML / CSS for Open Realty $125+

Open Realty is one of the premier Real Estate Listing Managers available today. One of the difficult things that has troubled Open Realty site owners is the lack of good quality templates at turnkey prices. Custom designs begin on average at $350 and quickly go up depending on integration and features.

Using the RTDS with client provided designs reduces costs to well below $200 on average. Frequently I encounter people who wish to have an attractive template monster design converted to operate with Open Realty. I’m happy to say that in the three years I’ve been building templates for Open Realty I’ve only encountered two designs that could not be effectively converted. Some designs are simply better suited for CMS systems like Joomla with an Open Realty Integration.

Open Realty Joomla WordPress Integrated – Converted templates as XHTML / CSS $425+

Not yet in my product list, the conversion of a commercial template from a template club to an integrated solution is by no means a simple procedure. However with the code snippets we use for integration we are able to bring together truly impressive designs in a valid XHTML / CSS solution to site owners at a fraction of the cost of full blown custom coding.

Feel free to contact me with questions regarding templates you are considering for conversion.

Cleaning out my old project directory I discovered that I did in fact have about a half dozen good quality foundation templates for osCommerce MS2 and what I’ve done is install the latest MS2 version over on the LiveDemoSite.com to test them and I’m going to release them FREE.

These templates are NOT super beautiful, a bit heavy, and quite honestly won’t work if you have modified your osCommerce Core. This is one of the biggest reasons I admire the STS and BTS template features in some versions of osCommerce like oscMax, CRE Loaded and so on. Modification to templates in osCommerce requires so much time and energy that it frustrates nearly every designer I’ve ever worked with or been hired to product templates for. People usually if not always modify or extend the capabilities of their osCommerce sites with contributions that modify individual files many of which are template related. This poses a problem.

So, since I rarely suggest osCommerce templates to existing sites anymore I’m going to publish these as FREE providing you register and select “I Agree” that you understand that these are not intended to be added to existing live production sites as they will most certainly break any site with contributions having been added. These templates are for brand spanking new sites using osCommerce MS2+ and beyond that I can promise nothing.

osCommerce vs osCMax vs CRE Loaded vs Shopping Carts – FREE!

I’m a big fan of osCommerce and suggest it to people almost weekly but my latest passion has been in the area of integration as more and more people are realizing the absolute necessary requirement of SEF and SEO friendly commerce solutions. I absolutely love the iJoomla cart although some things about its functionality with OpenSEF is a bit of a mystery it along with CRE Loaded are likely my two favorites to date. A close second is the cart I use on this very site with WordPress along with XCart and of course osCMax. I’ve never been a big fan of ZenCart only because they seek to achieve way to much in the application.

CRE Loaded Templates vs osCommerce Templates

For speed and ease of templating I always suggest people spend the $10 and get a copy of CRE Loaded. The ease in which a template can be applied makes it worth the investment. Options like those for integration I tend to favor are certainly top on my list, but of the osCommerce flavors available, CRE Loaded and osCMax are by far the easiest to create and maintain various template features for. Integration is achievable as in osCommerce but require a bit more work.

osCommerce templates require substantial modifications to individual files to change the look and or feel of a site on a per page basis. Using some PHP in a BTS template for instance makes this relatively simple providing the site owner also invests in the CRE SEF plugin because some template changes are based on the URL.

All CRE Loaded and osCommerce Templates look alike – Beautiful Designs Not Possible?

Have you ever wondered why these templates all look and behave the same? Take any 50 osCommerce, CRE Loaded and Zen Cart templates, stack them on top of one another, and transparently look through them all. You will discover they are all essentially the same. Same features, same general structure, same general look and certainly the same bulky fat and heavy code. I’ve yet to see one of these actually available in XHTML and CSS compliant formats. The silly thing is that XHTML and CSS compliant is actually possible with some core modifications that neither CRE Loaded or others seem at all interested in. Why then are they so expensive?

The number one motive for me not releasing commercial grade CRE Loaded designs has been as I’ve elated to so many times in forums across the web. Simply “proprietary code” which sets all my commercial designs for clients above and beyond standard turnkey designs. I’ve been very tempted to make available commercial grade CRE Loaded templates with the kinds of features professional online stores deserve but have been unable to really package in a meaningful way a turnkey template solution that would be easy to install for novice users. The simple fact is that most of my CRE Loaded templates require some degree of time consuming modification to work per domain and has kept me from a turnkey release option.

Luckily times change, and I’ve been able to have some new code written that should make configuration relatively easy. I’m not going to promise anything, but will simply say keep your eyes on this blog in the next few weeks as I’m cleaning up and repackaging my CRE Loaded inventory for distribution. What you can expect is anything but carbon copy designs for the hundreds of dollars you normally expect.

Its been a while since I wrote in my blog, taking on the challenges of getting the balance of the features completed for rapid theme and template development proved way more daunting than I had estimated. For years I’ve followed the same routine in design, MLS integration, and development of sites that hover around the open source cms solutions so popular today. Early on as I had mentioned in previous posts, the RTDS was designed to optimize a routine that makes mundane and redundant tasks almost instant. The idea naturally is to take things that are common to nearly all projects and group them into drop in solutions. When you get handed the task of eating an elephant, the notion you can do it in one or even a few bites would prove itself futile.

The way you eat an elephant is piece by piece in manageable sizes. Maybe this isn’t the best way to articulate a point, but as you read it may become a bit more clear because in our business each project can be as large as an elephant and just as intimidating. By creating the collection of Adobe Dreamweaver Extensions for template design (many to release GNU / GPL) I approach an elephant with a different mindset unlike other extensions I’ve evaluated. I spent a spank of time, energy and even money to evaluate the logic behind the approach of dozens of extensions. After many weeks of evaluation, I came to realized that NONE of the extension I evaluated followed standard design processes and even more interesting I found that most were basically a collection of code snippets designed for one click inclusion. It seemed to me that it was un-necessary for an extension to be built this way as most design professionals I have ever worked with maintain a Microsoft Access Database with their code snippets or they invest in tools like CodeWarehouse or SnippetBox to store their code. Dreamweaver is beautiful when it comes to storing snippets and managing common features but experience has demonstrated its not always the ideal.

If you take by example that I do no fewer than 25 – 45 WordPress, Joomla, or OpenRealty installs and configurations on a monthly basis it would be easy to conclude that I had little time for anything else. Each of these products requires an investment in time and certainly a lofty inventory in resources that can only be acquired with experience and time. What I’ve encountered more often than not is that each installation is pretty much the same as far as my plug-in inclusions and general setup configuration, so it becomes easy to spot the first hurdle in effectively maximizing time and project management. Individually, with modifications most of which are common, along with the install and configuration of SEF and SEO features, many times people ask how I can do so much for so little as my average price is just $25 per install. The answer to that is simple. I break things down into logical steps and maintain an accurate and up to date inventory of drop in solutions. This technique is not to different from the one I teach about in the RTDS for project design management. As a design professional, working any other way given the volume of projects we turn would prove extremely difficult if not impossible to maintain while still trying earn enough to pay programmers, hosting and other bills to stay in business.

I have no desire to work for $1 an hour and competing with foreign coders and designers, many professionals in the US, UK, Canada, Western Europe, and Australia struggle to stay in business as many times pricing is so cheap one has to wonder how its possible to avoid that very $1 an hour situation. For this reason among many others I created these Adobe Dreamweaver extensions and built a Code Freelance Open Bidding System for professionals who require a bit more CA$H. I’m not presumptuous or arrogant enough to attempt to limit the use of these solutions to only the west. I’m no bigot and for this reason, these Adobe Dreamweaver Extensions are freely available for ALL professionals regardless of nation. These Adobe Dreamweaver Extensions for template design are effective in reducing the mundane and tedious steps for effective layouts hopefully increasing your income as you can achieve more with less. As I mentioned above, most extensions I’ve evaluated were basically one click snippet inclusions which can certainly be time savers, but did not follow any particular design process. These extensions follow a design process as old as the print design process which includes the use of a grid system.

Now that my coder has gotten things wrapped up in the extensions I’ll update a section of my site so you can download, evaluate, bug test and freely use. Currently available are OpenRealty, Joomla 1.0.12+, WordPress and CRE Loaded with osCommerce, vBulletin and Joomla 1.5 soon to follow among others. Free is free and its my intention to keep them free.

Note: These extensions require a minimum of DreamweaverMX to work properly. Tested in versions MX, 8 and 9.