Dolphin CMS’s advanced features

•             Static content management

•             News content management

•             Blog content management

•             Events content management

•             Portfolio content management

•             Content tag management

•             Meta tag management

•             Customer management

•             Category & product management

•             Related Products

•             Manufacturer management

•             Order management

•             eCommerce Reports

•             Shipping management

•             Promotion management

•             Image gallery management

•             Advert management

•             Customer comments management

•             Image management (Upload, Resize, Insert, Delete)

•             Flash management (Upload, Resize, Insert, Delete)

•             Document management (Upload, Insert, Delete)

•             Powerful WYSIWYG HTML Editor

•             Automated Site Map

•             Google Base Product Feed

•             ROI Calculator

•             SEO

•             Embed maps

•             Static content management

•             News content management

•             Blog content management

•             Events content management

•             Portfolio content management

•             Content tag management

•             Meta tag management

•             Customer management

•             Category & product management

•             Related Products

•             Manufacturer management

•             Order management

•             eCommerce Reports

•             Shipping management

•             Promotion management

•             Image gallery management

•             Advert management

•             Customer comments management

•             Image management (Upload, Resize, Insert, Delete)

•             Flash management (Upload, Resize, Insert, Delete)

•             Document management (Upload, Insert, Delete)

•             Powerful WYSIWYG HTML Editor

•             Automated Site Map

•             Google Base Product Feed

•             ROI Calculator

•             SEO

•             Embed maps

Drupal CMS – Advantages and Disadvantages

Drupal is a free and open source content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License.

Advantages:

All the Basic Features you need:

Drupal Core is their standard release of features, which includes: user account registration and maintenance, RSS-Feeds, menu management, system administration and page layout customization. These basic features can be used to create simple sites, single or multi user blogs, brochureware, forums, community websites and more.

Great Building Tools and Templates

Drupal offers you the basic building blocks of websites in a module-styled format where content and rules can be created quickly. Through the use of templates and themes there is no need to start from scratch—no matter if you are building a simple or complex site. Pre-defined configurations of site features help users build fairly complex sites rapidly, allowing them to use their time to build in extra features.

Flexible Yet Robust Content Creation

Drupal’s bread and butter is in its content creation. Drupal allows its users the flexibility to create and manage different content types including: video, polls, user management, text, blog, podcasts, real-time stats, and revision controls.

Advanced Administrator Controls

Administrators have the options of setting up new user accounts and user permissions. These permissions can be designated per role or group and offer fine-tooth comb-style, allowing users to help create your content for you. Drupal’s new release of version 7 allows for easier administration and greater controls.

Create Your Own Dynamic Designs

While Drupal offers themes and templates that are easily recognizable to the public many users like to use its design tools to create their own dynamic designs. The system’s presentation layers allows for easily usable and interactive experiences.

Organize Content Easily

One of the difficult parts of many CMS tools is the ability organize your content for later use and recall. Drupal allows you to categorize your content through path urls, create custom lists, associate content and create defaults. This structure helps you to organize, structure, search, find and reuse content.

Allow your Users to Collaborate with you

Drupal is commonly mistaken for a blogging platform due to its incredible ability to publish socially. Drupal-based sites engage users to contribute while giving the administrator the ability to create, view, publish, administer and otherwise control the social content published to the site.

Tools that make it Easy to Connect with your Audience

The most important part of a site is connecting it to users, other sites, social networks, and search engines– and Drupal makes this simple. Through increased network integration, feeds, search engine optimization tools, aggregation and other connecting tools, Drupal helps connect you to your viewers.

Multi-featured

Drupal CMS is multi-featured CMS and has all the necessary features that a webmaster or a blogger may need to create an impressive website. The most commonly liked features of Drupal CMS include- system administration menu management, RSS-Feeds, maintenance, user account registration and page layout customization.  These features of Drupal CMS enable a user to create any kind of website right from a simple personal blog to a professional e-commerce website.

Great website Building Tools and different Templates

Drupal CMS has many different and advanced website building tools which help to create a website quickly without any considerable effort. By using the different and attractive template the user can make the website layout attractive. The pre-defined configuration feature of Drupal CMS enable user to make even a complicate website easily and rapidly.

Excellent Content Creation

Drupal CMS main attraction is its feature of excellent content creation. The user can add many of the different and useful modules like polls, videos, management, blogs, revision controls, podcasts and videos in their blogs with Drupal CMS.

Highly developed Administrator Controls

when you create a website with Drupal CMS, you get an authority of setting up new user account and that account is administered completely by you. You can designate other people as admin in your website if you want a group of people to work there. The latest version of Drupal CMS brings new and advanced administrator controls.

Dynamic Designs

Drupal CMS carries some very interesting themes and templates and those are easy to use as well. The user can use those designing tools and the templates to give the website an attractive look. You can check out more information about Drupal and other CMS services at WPSkool

Easy management

Drupal CMS though has a learning curve but is easy to manage. The user can categorize the posts, create the defaults, and create custom lists and much more to organize the blog or website.

Disadvantages:

Usability

Drupal is not the most user-friendly platform and it has a high learning curve. Platforms like WordPress and Joomla are significantly easier to use, although they don’t offer the power and options that Drupal does. The good news though is that the new release of Drupal 7 is addressing some of the usability concerns and should be an easier adaptation for newer administrators.

Backwards Compatibility

Drupal is a relatively new system and is not backwards compatible with other software so if you have other content, systems and programs in place that you have become accustomed to then Drupal might not be the system for you.

Performance

In terms of loading and scalability Drupal is one stroke behind that of WordPress. The slow loading is simply because of the breadth of tools and capabilities. If you have a slower computer, or are simply a microwave generation kid and need things to work quickly then consider a zippier platform. Advanced users have however found ways around its problematic performance indicators, but with the big learning curve this takes a significant amount of time.

Non friendly interface

Drupal CMS is much user friendly as compared to the other open source content management systems. It incorporates a high learning curves and one need to learn a few basic things about the platform and its features before using it.

Not good Compatibility

Drupal CMS is a new content management system as compared to other old and established content management systems. Drupal CMS is not compatible with other software.

Mediocre performances

The websites made in Drupal CMS are relatively heavy and take more time to load. The large breadth of tools in Drupal CMS makes the website heavy. The websites made in Drupal CMS can never open with a slow internet connection.

Drupal Vs Joomla

Drupal and Joomla are both open source CMS, so which is better?

What is it?

Drupal - Developers choice, if you are the type of individual who thrives on hand-coded content and scripts. In comparison to other CMS, Drupal, relates more to the developer as its structure is more script based. This platform may not be strictly for designers unless they are willing to commit to the development side of web design and web functionality.

As being a CMS the functionality is quite similar to other popular choice, and for the sake of comparison: Joomla. When we talk about a functionality we think of the necessary features, blogs, comment section, author’s name, etc. Drupal, in its essentials, can function similar to any standard blog you see on the web today. However, the capabilities expand farther beyond the releam of blogging, and thrives, when building large dynamic sites.

Joomla - The name Joomla literally means “all together”, with that in mind comes the theory that the CMS would live up to its name. In comparison to Drupal, code-wise, Joomla falls short, for designers and artist a like, Joomla is more favoured as the support for the themes is much larger based than Drupal. If you looking for a well designed theme with the basic functionalities of the standard “web 2.0″ blog, Joomla is a more favourable option.

In comparison to the two CMSs there is no better option but rather a personal preference or skill set. If you are more developer oriented, and do not mind the learning curve of Drupal, then Drupal would be the favourite of the two, if you are more on the art or design side, then Joomla would be the better choice, its not to say that a designer can not choose Drupal or a developer should not use Joomla once again it comes down to a matter of preference. Install both on a test server and see which one suites your needs accurately.

Drupal and its Benefits

What is Drupal

The importance of Drupal becomes evident with the fact that the website of Whitehouse, the largest democratic institution of the United States is powered by this. For those who are new to this term Drupal is an open source content management system written in PHP which is being used almost in 1.5% of total websites and blogs available across the globe.

History

The history dates back to 2000 when 3 students from the University of Antwerp in Belgium started sharing a message board over the internet. Eventually this message board became online and emerged as a testing ground for a new revolutionary web-technology. The software is open source means is free to use and users need not have to pay any licensing fees, hence anyone could use it and test it. The software is currently owned by Dries Buytaert.

Requirements to install Drupal

This open source content management system can be easily installed on a web-server running on Apache or Microsoft. The installation requires MySQL or similar database server and PHP as a scripting language. Webistes or blogs which are running on a third party web-hosting system should ensure that the hosting company is adequately configured to support Drupal.

Competitors

Drupal is one of the three open-source content management systems which are widely used in the Internet world. The highest rung of the ladder is occupied by Word-press and Joomla is another strongest contender of Drupal. However, there are many other third party packages available out there but these three are being widely used and appreciated across the globe.

Advantages of Drupal

Although Word-press is the most preferred open source content management system used by webmasters and developers across the globe nonetheless Drupal is gaining traction these days and is being considered as the leader of the future content management system. It has a lot of advantages over other open source platforms available out there here are some of them

•It is easy to install maintain and work on. The platform can be used very easily by even those who are non-techies and devoid of technical knowledge.

•Non-technical users don’t have to rely upon any designer or programmer to edit or make any kind of required changes.

•Since it doesn’t require any technical expertise it makes your business cost-effective and less cumbersome.

•Drupal is scalable, customizable and adaptable to meet any kind of software environment.

•Support and up gradation of the software is completely free

•Drupal is available with various plug-in modules to suit a vast variety of applications.

•Drupal content management system can easily be used for any third party tools and applications

•Last but not the least benefit of Drupal is that the software can be operated in any language making its use more flexible

How to install and download Drupal

Check the system requirement: this is the first step in the whole process of downloading and installing Drupal. Web-masters and developers should ensure their web-hosting service provider meets all the requirements to support this content management system. A web space of 3 MB is enough and adequate in installing a Drupal content management system. The web server should run either in Apache or Microsoft IIS. The database that will be utilized should be MYSQL and the script should be written in PHP.

Download the best Drupal version: This is the second step that is going to be used by web developers wherein the best suitable version of Drupal should be downloaded so as to meet all your requirements. The version can be downloaded either in ZIP file or in TAR file. If your server is running in a Unix system then downloading the file in TAR is advisable.

Extract all your files

Extracting all the necessary files and directories into a new folder is the next step in the whole process.If your computer is running in MS window then the ZIP file will automatically open in file manager otherwise it needs to be placed in a suitable location.

Install the extracted files

Installing the Drupal files will be the next step wherein webmasters and developers need to go to “sites” and then to “default” in the folder where the files have been installed. Go to the the “default.settings.php” file, and create a copy, rename the new copy “settings.php.” The step is followed by changing the permission of the site and then creating appropriate database for the same.

Web Applications Logging and Instrumentation

Designing an effective logging and instrumentation strategy is important for the security and reliability of your application. You would audit and log activity across the tiers of your application. These logs will be used to detect suspicious activity, which is frequently provides early indications of an attack on the system, and it will can help to address repudiation threats where users deny their actions.
Log and audit files may be required in legal proceedings to prove the wrongdoing of individuals. Regular auditing is generally considered to be most authoritative if the audit is generated at the precise time of resource access, and by this routine that accesses the resource. Consider as the following guidelines when designing a logging and instrumentation strategy:

• Auditing all layers of the application for user management events, system critical events, business critical operations, and unusual activities.
• Create secure log file management policies such as restricting access to log files, and allow only write access to users. Ensure that you have logging and instrumentation mechanisms are configurable during deployment and when in production.
• Don’t store sensitive information in log or audit files.

5 important features of web design

Web Design Features

Our website design features for publication websites allow publishers to utilize their website as a news, information, and interactive readership portal for their brand niche online.
Our website design options allow publishers to select the features most important to building online growth and revenue. Each option is configured to allow for the right balance of readership participation and publisher control of the website content.

• Strategic Website Plan – Magazine online strategy plan consulting with consideration of brand positioning, competitive niche market space, online conversion objectives, circulation, and advertising revenue goals.
• Custom Web Design – Each new site design is created based on a review of the style and web presentation elements that supports your publication online. Mock design layouts are created prior to development for publisher approval prior to development and site configuration.
• Social Media Links – Social media bookmarking links to all major social bookmarking and social sharing network sites.
• Banner Advertising System – Display and text banner ads management system for serving ads across selected page regions and website zones.
• Script Element Control – Script based accommodation for third-party magnets and web tools to display off-site information, feeds, or functions.

More web design tips

Nowadays, in this trendy world, people get very uptight when they do not look entirely presentable. This would also be the case in web designing.

Every individual would definitely want their website to look good, if not, to the best they can. Here are a few things we could look out for when wanting to create a professional looking webpage.
Color Schemes and Themes.
When designing, always choose matching colors. An example of a matching color would be to have a dark background, with visible words and designs. With the dark theme, try not to mix too many bright colors into the design. What we should NEVER do, is to mix two very different colors, such as purple and yellow. Now, of course, it would depend on the purpose of the website, but those two colors are too striking for one who wants it to look more professional.
Themes must always suit the company or rather, the organization / etc. If the website was made to cater for a food company, it would be wise to stick to that particular category, rather than to revert to a different theme, such as machinery.
Fonts should be used in regard to the formality of the website. A simple sans-serif font would suffice in most cases. Exceptional cases such as design and art groups might want to use fanciful designs and fonts. Of course, that’s only if you know what you’re doing.
Finally, we must always try to think of our visitors, see the way they see. The resolutions and file sizes of the pictures must not be too large in terms of size. This is to allow maximum compatibility and cater our visitor’s needs.
So, planning is something we should always do, before attempting something.

Brochure Design Tips for Your Business

Brochure design elements to capture the attention of their intended audience. Brochures prospective clients to probe deeper into the content by reading further about a topic or getting contact information about the company.

Response brochures answer inquiries of prospective customers who already have an interest and want to learn more. Brochures are produced for mass mailings have high-quality graphics, designs, photographs, and content that describes the company’s goods or services.
Different types of brochures can be improve any business’ marketing potential.

• Brochures can be increased the brand awareness in the public eye.
• Creating the standard tri-fold brochure for tracts and mass mailed brochures.
• Use multiple fold brochures for high quality presentations.

Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher are the easiest software to make attractive, brochures. Before you start remember fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Century is popular typefaces because they are simple in design and easy to read. The commonl rule of thumb for layout design is to use 12-point font for text, 12-point for captions, and 14 to 22-point fonts for headlines.
Focus the content on educating or informing the target audience about the company’s products and services. Avoiding the over hyped sales pitch and unsupported claims. Using captions and bullet points to convey a clear message. Incorporate the real testimonials by customers. List a money-return guarantee and a return policy to ease the concerns of prospective customers. Look of out defects when printing the brochures; discard any with smudge marks, and blurred pictures.

• Choose an easy-to-read font.
• Use 12-point font for text, 12-point font for captions, and 14 to 22-point font for headlines.
• Avoiding the over hyped sales pitch and unsupported claims.
• List a money-return guarantee and return policy in an obvious place.

Businesses will create their own brochures in Microsoft Word 2007 by following these easy steps:

• Step 1: Open the Ms Word program.
• Step 2: Navigate to Page Layout. press on Margins and select Narrow.
• Step 3: Press on Orientation and select Landscape.
• Step 4: Click Page Color and then choose the desired color.
• Step 5: Navigate to Insert and then click Text Box. Next, create Simple Text Box from the Built-In pop up box. Design the size of text box to 3.4 inches to create a standard tri-fold brochure. Drag the Letter box to the right-hand side. Enter relevant text into the box itself.
• Step 6: Right button on the text box and then choose Formal Text Box at the bottom of the menu. Select the desired background and outline.
• Step 7: Click the Text Box tab while still in the Format Text Box window. choose the text align center of the text box.
• Step 8: Navigate to the Shapes button and then add a rectangle. Select the size of the document’s length and then select a height and fill color. Right button click and set the box behind the text from the Order option.
• Step 9: Add at least three text boxes for tri-fold, or set the default text box to three columns to align the text boxes. Repeating the instructions in Step 4 to add more text boxes.
• Step 10: Add text and images as desired how we entered.

There few same principles into Microsoft Publisher 2003 with these easy steps:

• Step 1: Launch the Ms Publisher 2003 program. Click Publications for Print and then select Brochures . Select a design that resonates with the business’s goods and services.
• Step 2: Select a three or four panel brochure. Select to include the customer’s address on the brochure panel. Choose the appropriate form and then add it to the brochure. Choose Color Schemes and then select the desired color. Choose on Font Schemes and then choose the desired font.
• Step 3: Arrange the title of the brochure to look presentable to an audience. The title should have convey a clear message to the target audience. Choose on the pieces of the design to move them accordingly and then drag them to their new position. Choose on Select Objects button on the toolbar to move multiple objects. Choose on the Text Box icon and then drag it to the appropriate location on the screen.
• Step 4: Align the boxes neatly. Choose on View and then Boundaries and Guides to display how the brochure will look without the non-printing elements on the page.
• Step 5: To recolor a series of images to a monochromatic look, Select on Format Picture and the Picture tab. Next, click the Recolor button. Click the desired color from the Color drop down list. Select OK.
• Step 6: Select Format, Styles and Formatting and then Modify to change the formatting of the text.
• Step 7: Proofread by using the spell and grammar check to ensure an error-free brochure.
• Step 8: Print the brochure.

OsCommerce Shopping Cart advantages and disadvantages

OsCommerce Shopping Cart advantages

• Amongst these various advantages of work in favor of osCommerce shopping cart is the fact that it can be obtained at a very cheap cost and in fact there are many websites from where it can be downloaded without spending a single dollar.
• But this alone is not the only reason why osCommerce shopping carts are as popular as they are today. There is well known for their flexibility and customizing it and integrating it to any website should not normally be a difficult proposition.
• Any person with reasonably good designing skills can make the required modifications. Hence that particular software is very popular amongst business entrepreneurs who also have some bit of computer programming and software development.
• Upgrading of an osCommerce shopping cart can be done quite easily and most of these upgrades are available freely for download and integration with the existing application that is running on your website.

OsCommerce Shopping Cart disadvantages

• However, as is the case with any of the product, service or software application, more than people see some disadvantages with osCommerce shopping cart applications. The lot of problem is lack of technical support. This is often probably because most of the open source shopping carts that are available in the market are freely downloading.
• Hence, getting any kind of technical support or guidance is next to impossible. While it is more flexible application that benefits of the same can accrue only to those customers who have some basic knowledge about programming and writing of codes. Normal individuals who want to be entrepreneurs using osCommerce shopping cart may find the going tough.
• The updates of the software have to be monitored manually and hence this could prove to be a big problem over a period of time. Security is that area of concern which also inhibits many users from trying this particular software.
• Since this is freely available software, usage of the same is quite high. While that is good news, it also can be a downside to it. Delays in this transacting using this application are not very uncommon and this could be attributed to overloading in the platform more often than not.

Build a Web Application design

Web applications are more challenging to create design and the website. Designer wants to anticipate user of behavior, make users’ lives easier and make the experience as visually appealing as possible. Lot of designers tends to do what is easier for them than think about what’s easier for the user. A small tips that designers often overlook in the process of designing a web application.

1. The Power of a Good Tooltip

When you present your web application to a potential customer, If you want to do is ruin your lovely graphic design work by plastering words everywhere to hand hold your new user. Tooltips of your icons can use in a big way. Tooltips offer using the ability to learn a system by exploring icons without harming they are experience. People who are learn what all the buttons do can feel immersed in the experience. When it has been a mobile display, you can use a button that toggles the tooltips off and on. The first you can tap your display the tooltip and the second tap would submit the action.

2. Don’t reply on the User’s Memory

There is nothing more frustrating than flicking between pages or tabs where the information you need on page 2 was entered on page 1. A website app should not force users to remember their details. This should simply allow them to do whatever action they need to do, and presenting them with the most wanted information possible to help them complete their task. If the user is required to entering their customer reference number at the beginning of a process, they will not have to re-enter that information a second time. If you can must ask a user for more than one piece of information that they have to reference elsewhere (bank statement, order reference etc.), you can make them does it all on one page to prevent cognitive overload.

3. Offer Multiple Methods of Execution

Any web app you create needs to adapt to your user’s behavior and offer multiple routes to the end goal. Let us imagine a task management application. A different task may contain a number of information properties that define what needs to be done (date, priority, description etc.). The default method is to add a task with its associated information properties. However, even though you should also give users a quick method to add a task without filling in the extra information properties. Offer for different routes to reach the same end goal makes your application more dynamic for users, so that can get things done at their own pace.

4. Don’t Go Modal Happy

“Hey look at me, nothing else matters!” That is what modal popup scream to users. There is a modern-day answer to popup windows that are sometimes overused. You should have use models to draw the user’s attention. But if you can force your users to focus their attention at every turn, they would soon get tired and turn off. Another handling tip that’s often overlooked is to allow users to close the modal popup when they click outside of the window on the faded background. Users couldn’t like to our work than they need to, and they have don’t like to shouted at. Using the model popups brilliantly and sparingly helps to keep the user in control of their situation.

5. Give Valuable Status Messages

‘Please Wait…’ and ‘Loading…’ are usually messages you’ll find at the top of a page. They are rarely add to the user experience of the application, but if you could do inform users that the application is busy doing something. There is a problem is when they are small and unnoticeable. People whom miss the status messages become frustrated at the application for not reacting to their input as they don’t realize it is occupied with another task.
For example, when you first load Google Maps a small yellow status message appears at the top of the page somewhere center-left, which can be you may not have even seen it before. While these status can message is present, this map cannot be dragged around until it finishes loading. If it is more important enough to stop all use of your application, then the small status message is not enough feedback. If your status message has a vital message such as ‘Please Wait…’ it should appear in a modal window with a transparent overlay. This is clearly tells the user to wait, and users can be always more forgiving if they are aware of exactly what is happening.

6. Don’t Worry About Scrolling. Use It to Your Advantage.

Worrying too much about ‘the fold’ can seriously turn your user interface design from a scrollable, free flow design to a cramped and messy affair. The roots of the problem is an unrealistic fear that people who use computers do not know how to scroll or that anything under the fold will never be seen. What you need to combat ‘the fold’ is a quick way of explaining what your web app is all about above the fold. What is that? Why should users care about the design? Is there is more info further down the page? If you can be make your app interesting enough above the fold, users shall be scroll down to experience more of the page. Leave it enough content below the fold to continue to satisfy the user. Once if they’re at the bottom, you can be more fairly confident that you have an interested user looking at your content. The bottom of the page is most valuable area of your site because the end is mostly for users who are likely to engage with your app than casual browsers who stay mostly at the top.