hosting
News and views (April 2011)
This newsletter is being sent to all Bobbing Wide customers to advise you of some recent changes to the website hosting and any side effects of making that change.
If you want to remain subscribed to any future newsletters then you don't have to do anything.
web server selection
We will choose a web hosting site to fit your budget,
taking into account
- size of your web site - disk space requirements
- number of users and pages served - bandwidth
- amount of change planned
In many cases we will be able to offer you hosting on one of our reseller hosting systems.
Unobtanium level site
You're looking at a web page in a Bobbing Wide level unobtanium site.
This site has just about everything you'd want... and possibly quite a bit you don't want.
In this case, if you're a Bobbing Wide customer, the bits you're unlikely want is all the techno-babble.
eCommerce
Ubercart
eCommerce provides the capability for your customers to shop online.
A full eCommerce implementation is more than just a shopping cart.
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Tags: Catalog, certificates, hosting, http security, standalone, Gold, Platinum, Unobtainium, Ubercart
Compare levels
Wonder of WordPress website
A Wonder of WordPress (WoW) website is a simple website that starts off as ONE page. But it can be easily extended.. by yourself... once you know how.
The basic configuration of a WoW style site is:
- Installed using the WordPress content management system blogging tool
- One 'static' page configured as the front page
- A contact form
- A blog
- A very simple menu to allow user access to the Contact form and Blog
- Sidebar widgets to show "useful" information
- A custom theme, built to your specification using the Artisteer tool
- Comments and user self registration disabled
- Share and like buttons to allow your readers to help spread the word.
Bronze level
Bronze level sites are a step up from Wonder of WordPress (WoW sites.
They have all the features of a WoW site plus additional content or plugins configured to match your needs.
A bronze level site would normally be implemented using WordPress.
Silver level website
Silver level websites are of medium size and complexity.
They are suitable for websites such as online brochures or marketing information.
A silver level website typically features:
- Between 5 and 10 pages
- Medium complex design
- Simple to medium navigation
- User interaction with forms
- Custom content types
- Downloadable files (freely available )
Because of the need for custom content, Silver level websites will normally be developed using the Drupal CMS.
Gold level website
Gold level websites are Bobbing Wide's entry level for eCommerce websites
Gold level websites have all the features of a Silver level, Drupal based website.
Implemented using the Ubercart eCommerce package you get a fully functional product catalog with ordering and fulfilment capability.
Much, much more than just a PayPal button, far more sophisticated than simple external shopping cart links. If you seriously want to sell products online then you'll want the power of Drupal and Ubercart.
A typical gold level eCommerce website
- Displays a product catalog in a variety of different styles
- Allows buyers to select options, quantity to purchase, shipping methods, payment methods
- Allows you to define a product structure for your specific product set
- Provides multiple ways of finding information about your products
- Supports different types of user with different levels of authority (roles)
Platinum level site
A Platinum level site is like a Gold level site, only even more involved.
- It will be built using the Drupal CMS
- It will contain a plethora of contributed modules
- It will be configured with complex content types
- We will include some of the more advanced web 2.0 functions, depending on your requirements of course: subscription through feeds, aggregation of feeds from other sites, newsletters, user comments, rating, feedback, polls, various ways that users can get access to the site.
- etc.
Unobtanium level site
You're looking at a web page in a Bobbing Wide level unobtanium site.
This site has just about everything you'd want... and possibly quite a bit you don't want.
In this case, if you're a Bobbing Wide customer, the bits you're unlikely want is all the techno-babble.
But if you happen to be CMS savvy or you want to have a better understanding of how your site is put together then you might find it handy after all. Especially the bits that explain things with visible examples.
Developed using Drupal, Ubercart and more contributed modules than you've had hot dinners, an unobtanium level site will satisfy a whole host of needs.
The chances are that this level of site will include one or more of the following requirements:
- complex themes
- needs to be hosted individually, with enough bandwidth and disk space to support the content and use.
- requires security certificates and support for the https protocol.
- will be translated to support multiple languages (internationalization aka i18n)
- things we haven't thought about yet
Tags: CMS, custom code, domain, email, forms, functionality, graphics, hosting, layout, navigation, support, web statistics
Bobbing Wide Tech Support
On the face of it the Bobbing Wide Technical Support site is just a very simple, single page, static website.
But under the covers, it's a web reseller hosting site where I administer some of the smaller websites we have developed.