Recently TemplateMonster has made a public opinion survey among its loyal Flash audience – those were mainly customers who bought multiple Flash templates but – oddly enough – didn’t purchase any FlashMoto templates. That useful inquiry resulted in some interesting things we didn’t quite expect to come upon. That’s why now, with the current blog entry, we’ll try to make the things clear and debunk the myths about FlashMoto CMS as being horribly complex. That’s a sheer nonsense in fact!
Ok, here are things that to some extent bother our dearest customers:
Myth # 1: The product is rather complicated to use.
Supposedly, there are some fears that Flash developers and end users will not be able to sort things out and therefore they do not buy FlashMoto templates. That’s a common stereotype about all innovative products when owing to their novelty they seem to be complex in application. In fact, those customers to buy our FlashMoto CMS Templates assert that these products are incredibly easy to work with.
When I first noticed the Flash CMS Websites on Template Monster I thought “WOW that is for me”. Before I purchased the template there was a simulated trial of the product provided and after having a solid play with the simulator I realized that editing a FlashMoto CMS Template wasn’t going be too hard at all and I went about purchasing the template. I will add that I had absolutely minimal experience in web site editing. Having said that, when I downloaded the template and worked out how to upload it to my host (thanks to the Template Help Team at Flash CMS of whom are fantastic), it was nothing but a breeze from then on. I changed the template quite a few times. Initially I just edited and added a few things and then I realized how much more I could do. The CMS Template is almost limitless as to what you can do and for beginners, you will find it extremely easy to pick up the ease of using the template control panel. My website is due for a bit of an update at the moment..so keep an eye on this space for the next change that I make to my FlashMoto CMS Template.
Christine G. Waterer, owner of 100percentwebsites.com.au
Myth #2: the price for FlashMoto Templates is way too high.
We are always close to the latest technologies – you know that, so today let’s cover some more info on the new fundamental markup language for the web – HTML5 that you all love so much.
When saying about HTML5, developers mean the new semantic structural tags, API specs like canvas or offline storage, new inline semantic tags, etc. HTML5, in fact, is aimed at creating a comprehensive markup language for front-end development, able to provide qualitative information on the different elements of the page. But to help make some sense of what’s new and essential in HTML5, you could review some helpful and indispensable HTML5 tutorials that go over many of the major HTML5 aspects and new standards.
The whole purpose of this post is to help you master HTML5 rich features through simple guidelines and easy to follow techniques. These useful HTML5 tutorials will help you keep a track providing more tips and tricks that you can use in your HTML5-based projects. Still if you find something missing, share it kindly in the comments below. After all, another effective HTML5 tutorial won’t be out of place here.
HTML5 Unleashed: Tips, Tricks and Techniques
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Implementing HTML5 Drag and Drop: New Premium Tutorial
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Blowing up HTML5 video and mapping it into 3D space
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Hey video fans! Today we’re about to share a little secret to you all – after all our dearest blog audience deserves some cool insider info from TemplateMonster. The thing is we have this new YouTube channel (you may have heard of it by now) and we’re sharing some exclusive video content with our subscribers there. Approximately once a week we publish an AfterEffects intro there, and not just any intro – it’s got to be the intro that has not yet been made available for general TemplateMonster audience. Take a look at this week’s one:
Looks nice, huh? Once it goes live at our website there will be a 15% discount available on it – just type “youtube” on checkout to have the price reduced for any of our AfterEffects intros. Plus, very soon we’ll start publishing the video testimonials from TemplateMonster customers there and guess what – you can also become a star of TemplateMonster YouTube channel AND receive a 50% discount for that. That’s right – we give out a 50% discount to our customers for making a video testimonial about how great their experience of working with us was! Feel free to check out more details on this promo and don’t hesitate to share your own video testimonials!
What is the effective way to make your project noticeable among others? The solution is simple – attractive design concept that is undoubtedly distinctive from the ordinary sites. Free website template from the professional designers can become the powerful starting point for your successful project.
As you understand, today we present you another freebie – a Free Business Website Template. This theme features clean and clear style as well as the catchy 3D models that are also used in its design. You can easily customize it and present your company in the effective way. This free website template can be a good choice for your online project, be sure!
Here it is – the Free Business Website Template:
You can get this free website template in two ways: with PSD source files included and without them. Download HTML source files from this post (just click on the image above and save the ZIP file). If you need PSD source files, visit the free website template download page at TemplateMonster and type an email address that you want the free template package to be delivered to. Feel free to use this template for your business, but not for commercial purposes (this means you cannot resell it – either before of after customization). And now hurry up and download this Free Business Website Template!
Download free business website template with PSD files (20,5 MB)
Download free business website template without PSD (311KB)
So you’ve bought a domain but you’re still developing the site, or you’re doing some maintenance work or design changes to your website to be back with something beautiful – ‘Coming Soon’ page comes in really handy when you don’t want to spend much time on a temporary page but really should be working on the website itself. Such page serves one very important purpose – to let audience know that you’re working on something, but it’s not quite ready yet.
Nowadays internet users are smart enough to judge an upcoming site by looking at its ‘Coming Soon’ page. Designers therefore engage them using their pages to make a powerful impact, provide more relevant and interesting stuff about what’s coming. Mainly to let the visitors know they’ll be missing out on the next big thing if they don’t sign up. After all, ‘Coming Soon’ pages are in fact teasers for what is due to come once a fabulous thing has been finished, plus it is a wonderful way to mark the presence early in the web creating a buzz about you before your fantastic new website even launched.
Rules for ‘Coming Soon’
Here are some tips and key aspects you might want to consider putting on your ‘Coming Soon’ page to design a good one:
- Give a brief company introduction or short overview of what’s coming, that’ll provide an essential insight on what the site-to-be is all about.
- Start developing your high-quality logo, brand, and attractive color scheme from the day one to embed them into the minds of your viewers before the final website is live.
- It would be better to offer some development news to keep your visitors updated about your upcoming project.
- Give your coming soon page a deadline to let the users know when you plan to update your website. Besides, you may display a cool countdown timer on your custom ‘Coming Soon’ page in case you know a specific date of the launch.
- Offer buttons and links to your social media profiles for following you up, plus you may as well provide the recent tweets or comments about your new website to generate hype.
- You may as well insert testimonials if you, for example, have some from beta testing of your website.
- Provide newsletter/mailing list sign-up form to let your visitors subscribe to your website and get notified when your site will be up and running.
- Include contact information mentioning your email and phone.
- Consider as well offering an RSS feed for your page, so when it is updated people subscribed to it will know.
- It would not be out of place to mention copyright notice and the usual legal stuff.
- Do not devoid your page of any funny content – share some unique and exciting stuff (vector graphics, gradient backgrounds, funny tag lines and fancy fonts) to give visitors a reason to pass on the link.
- Don’t forget about SEO – you could use keywords and proper meta tags to advance your search engine rankings.
Remember that through adhering to these guidelines and setting the definite expectations for the ‘Coming Soon’ page, it will help reduce the visitors’ frustration, confusion, and annoyance. To conclude, the main focus when designing your teaser ‘Coming Soon’ page is to engage your audience and force them to talk about you before you even launch!
Right now, let’s take a look at some cool and well-designed ‘Coming Soon’ pages.
Heeled.net
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Pepsay.com
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Chkchkboom.com
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Alright guys, here comes the whole new stage in our HTML5 research. But this time it’s it is going to be a lot more fun than ever before! Actually we know that HTML5 has caused a real social media boom and there is a lot of different information concerning this topic. Also there is a common thing about many web users – now they can tell you what the main features of HTML5 are. And every kid knows that there’s a rivalry between HTML5 and Flash, Adobe and Google etc. etc. And if HTML5 and Flash are at war, than we should definitely examine some of the HTML5-based games (let’s face it – everyone knows more than enough about Flash games).
So all this being said, in today’s post we’re presenting a mixture of fun and useful information because all of the HTML5 applications that you’ll find here are great proofs of the great HTML5 and JavaScript performance. Thanks to the new “canvas” tag now we can play games via web browser that supports this tag. This collection shows that HTML5 can one day really become a great alternative to Flash web games and we hope that in the nearest future we will be able to see a much wider variety of HTML5 web games – because now, in June 2010 it was pretty hard to arrange the list of 20 games. And on the other hand this is what makes this list really ultimate! Alright now, enjoy those games and be sure to let us know what your favorite one is!
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Wolfenstein 3D
This is a Javascript and HTML5 implementation of id Software’s 1992 game called Wolfenstein 3D. Good old Wolfenstein now shoots nazis in your web browser (HTML5-compatible one of course).
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Adventure Land
Adventure Land is an iPhone game where Fred Jones does Mario-like tricks in Adventureland. Coins, owls and jumps – everything here is just like in good old days.
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Using mobile devices to access the Internet is rapidly becoming a common thing in our life. But furthermore, mobile handsets and smartphones come screaming onto the e-Commerce scene, rapidly transforming from being utilized as website browsing devices to website shopping devices. After all, a mobile storefront makes it easy and convenient for the customers to make a purchase whenever they want, plus it allows a more streamlined payment process which is better suited to buying on the fly.
What we see now is a fast-evolving mobile marketplace where mobile is becoming the new retail channel, far promising in fact. In general, mobile commerce (also known as m-Commerce) is the process of selling and buying of goods and services through mobile devices. Handsets are poised to take off as the next big platform for retailers since m-Commerce combines the advantages of powerful e-Commerce with the mobility and freedom of wireless devices.
This highlights an emerging opportunity for retailers to tap into the mobile channel. It is becoming clear now that the demand for mobile e-Commerce compliant websites would not be far behind. However, the widespread acceptance of m-Commerce faces hurdles. The main challenges retailers and companies face are technological inadequacies such as lack of desirable software and the absence of universal standards. There is the gap between the existing mobile system and the desired one. From the one side, there are huge possibilities to widely use mobile trading services, but store owners on the other hand vaguely incorporate m-Commerce into their existing business models. This follows that lack of professional mobile shopping cart platforms since software developers don’t see any necessity to rapidly create them. Yesterday we’ve published the preview of Magento Mobile which is Magento’s first attempt to jump on the mCommerce bandwagon and fill this vacuum. However Magento Mobile is far from perfect so today we’re presenting you the range of other mobile e-Commerce platforms we’ve scarcely found.
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Cart2mobile mobilizing e-commerce solution allows you to to seamlessly extend your existing e-Commerce capabilities to the mobile channel through a combination of mobile storefronts (applications) and mobile Web accessibility (WAP sites). Using cart2mobile, you can extend your e-Commerce solutions to the mobile platform as a managed service without the hassle of investing in hardware and development.
Cart2mobile provides the ability to develop a highly configurable set of mobile modules, allowing the retailers to deploy mobile apps that are customized according to their specific operational needs. There is an ability to create flexible and user-friendly custom apps for the following, and more:
- Mobile Catalog
- Store finders
- Flexible Product Pages
- Product Tracking
- Price Checking
- Product Replenishment
- Order history
- Mobile POS
- Loyalty programs
- Favorite items
- Order Picking/ Staging
- Mobile Inventory Management
- CRM
- Creating Planograms
- Task Management
Cart2mobile also provides rich applications for all major mobile operating systems and platforms, including Windows Mobile, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Symbian platforms.
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iCongo is a developer of e-business systems and software that enable companies to effectively transact business over the Internet. iCongo’s solutions include B2C and B2B e-commerce systems, retail cross-channel systems, a comprehensive suite of Internet marketing applications, order and warehouse management.
Recent release of the new software for the mobile commerce hasn’t caused huge media wave but we believe this event should not be underestimated. Magento has a great experience in playing these tricky ecommerce games so the new Magento Mobile will now be treated as one of the leaders among all mobile ecommerce platforms. Actually the release of Magento Mobile responds one of the main web trends – web goes mobile and it is logical that more and more companies are looking for opportunities to conquer this market with their products. The problem is that they had very few options for bringing their store to mobile web. Will this change now?
The m-Commerce is a “Land of Opportunities”
Mobile market is attractive for entrepreneurs because it is young and the most important thing about it is that the demand is much higher than the proposition – this obviously means that you can gain huge profits. If we mention mobile revenues and mobile web opportunities it is also quite reasonable to say that eBay – one of the world’s largest ecommerce projects – has obtained $500M in 2009 from mobile ecommerce (even though eBay’s mobile application is just an adopted version of their web store it’s still better for mobile users than the ordinary version).
Today there are no strong Mobile ecommerce applications available out there and this current situation shows that mobile ecommerce market has faced the interesting situation when the audience is ready for online shopping via mobile devices but there’s no reaction from store owners that in turn don’t have decent means for bringing their online stores online. The problem is that most of mobile browsers are rather slow and can’t provide customers with the browsing experience that we are used to while shopping. So it is time to look at applications that can fix this situation without any complications.
What’s inside the box?
Here are some interesting features of Magento Mobile:
- Admin manager
It will be distributed as a module for existing Magento installations. Magento mobile will be compatible with Community edition 1.3+, Enterprise 1.6+, and Professional 1.8+. - iPhone application
That’s actually what Magento Mobile is about – it creates a fully customizable iPhone app of your store. This is especially interesting with all those recent iPhone announcements; - PayPal Integration
You won’t be able to shop without making payments, right? This feature will facilitate payments for mobile-based shopping. PayPal mobile will be integrated into Magento Mobile. - Paid technical support
For a fee the guys from Magento will handle the submission process of your application while you will be able to save a lot of time and focus on your business. - Seamless Storefront Integration
Easily integrate mobile shopping application with your store’s catalog, checkout, inventory, reporting, and so on. - Multiple Devices
Right now it’s apparently about iPhone only. And later this year, according to Magento, store owners will also be able to easily extend the mobile presence to the iPad and Android devices as well – with a single installation. - Fully Customizable
Magento mobile admin will help to easily update appearance of the application, even after customers have downloaded the shopping app. - Engaging the Customers
It is a great opportunity to use Magento Mobile as a strong marketing tool for building deeper relationships with your most profitable customers.
Of course we must mention the disadvantages as well -
Well guys, you want something fresh – we give it to you! This week it is another freebie – Free Cars and Auto Website Template from TemplateMonster that can be nice and usable solution for your online project. The creative design approach makes this free template ideal for the powerful start of your online business that will certainly succeed, be sure. Feel free to try this product and enjoy its huge potential!
But before you start, have a look at this free web template:
As you remember, you can get this free website template in two ways: with PSD source files included and without them. If you need only HTML source files, download them from this post (just click on the image above and save the ZIP file). To get PSD source files visit the TemplateMonster free racing template download page and type an email address that you want the free template package to be delivered to. Feel free to use this template for your business, but not for commercial purposes. Don’t hesitate and download this Free Cars and Auto Website Template just now!
Download free cars and auto website template with PSD files (17.1 MB)
Download free cars and auto website template without PSD (366KB)
Let’s face this – there are tons and tons of e-commerce platforms currently available on the market. PrestaShop seems to be one of the fastest growing platforms out there, which is why we think you all may want to take a closer look on it. So PrestaShop shopping cart is in the focus of our attention today.
PrestaShop is a professional e-commerce shopping cart software that you can download and use for free. It was founded in 2007 in Paris, France, and now aspires to provide one of the best open source e-Commerce solutions to the greatest number of business owners worldwide. This e-commerce solution was built to take advantage of essential web 2.0 innovations such as dynamic AJAX-powered features and next-generation ergonomy. Despite its technical sophistication and advanced functionality, PrestaShop e-commerce platform is speedy and very lightweight, so it’s easy to download, install, and update. That’s according to the project owners’ information about themselves. As for ourselves – so far we don’t see any reasons to disagree, but more on that later.
Being a total e-commerce package based on PHP and using MySQL data management, PrestaShop comes with a variety of tools necessary for building, launching, and managing a successful online store without paying any licensing fees or registration.
Key features of PrestaShop
front office
- featured products on homepage;
- top sellers on homepage;
- new items on homepage;
- special deals (price reductions, gift vouchers);
- product image zoom;
- order out-of-stock items;
- loyalty system (points);
- customer referral program;
- customer subscription & user accounts;
- unlimited payment methods (there is a default module for this and in addition to it there are several non-free payment or shipping modules available for purchase);
- unlimited languages – 38 translations available so far.
Back Office
- unlimited categories, subcategories and products;
- customers’ product evaluations and comments;
- products and accessories packs;
- quantity discounts;
- wish list;
- customizable products (picture, text, etc.);
- customizable orders statuses & returns management;
- PDF invoices, slips and delivery slips;
- product, catalog statistics, conversion rate per categories;
- carriers, destinations and text settings;
- good use of object oriented PHP;
- tableless design that uses a lot of CSS;
- “block” content that can be edited via the admin by point and click.
For more exhaustive list of current and upcoming features, visit the PrestaShop features page.
The customers could as well personalize their online stores adding a variety of modules such as: special deals (such as price reductions and gift coupons), text-message alerts for new orders and inventory levels, new products, top sellers, as well as SEO, filter, translation, and attribute wizard module, etc. Though pay attention that many of the modules are non-free – and they aren’t cheap in fact. By the way, the authors of PrestaShop have an official marketplace for commercial modules and themes called PrestaStore (kinda like MagentoConnect).
When it comes to pros and cons of using this particular software, this triggers a disputable issue for PrestaShop supporters and opponents. PrestaShop has some cool, highly scalable features and is very lightweight, but still it’s far from being perfect. Those who are considering PrestaShop as their e-commerce platform should be aware of:
PrestaShop advantages:
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