A standard HTML website is static and fixed. Which means that to change any text and images, the page files that make up the site must be edited then uploaded to the web server. To do this you either have to be a web programmer or you have to hire one.

definition...

In the context of a Web site a content management system or CMS is a collection of tools, usually available in an online administration area, designed to allow the creation, modification, organisation and removal of information from a Web site. It is common for a CMS to require users to have no knowledge of HTML in order to create new Web pages.

our solution

We deploy an enterpise-level content management system based on the Joomla open-source project.

out of the box features

• Dynamic form builders
• Business or organizational directories
• Document management
• image and multimedia galleries
• E-commerce and shopping cart engines
• Forums and chat software
• Calendars
• WYSIWYG editor for content
• Blogging software
• Directory services
• Email newsletters
• RSS news feeds
• Data collection and reporting tools
• DHTML pop-out menu system
• Banner advertising systems
• Subscription services

special features

• Fully multilingual using the Joomla Fish extension/li>
• Simple workflow system
• Search engine-friendly URLs

benefits:

Massively extensible, this beast can do anything!!
Huge support and online community, check out the forum forum.joomla.org/ - 461,607 posts in 83,311 topics by 51,886 members!!
Open Source ie if one our directors wins the lottery and goes to live on his own desert island somewhere, it would be very easy to find an other developer to solve any future technical issues and provide any future support

Bug-free enterprise-level content management at a fraction of the cost of the major players!!

All our e-commerce soilutions are based on osCommerce...

osCommerce

osCommerce is a very powerful open source based online shop e-commerce solution that features a rich set of out-of-the-box features. As in our CMS-driven websites where we use Joomla, osCommerce has also attracted a massive online community which, in this case, consists of over 109,100 store owners and developers worldwide with add-ons being contributed on a daily basis. To date there are over 3,500 add-ons available that have been created by the community to extend the features of an osCommerce online store. With a community like this and problems that arise are always solved quickly. Any unusual client requirements can be fulfilled relatively stress free.

examples of our work...

Perfectly Pure Skincare, an online shop selling natural skincare products..

This site was constructed using a heavily modified and stripped down version of osCommerce.

Mercantile Brokers, an online shop selling selling to both trade and individuals a range of electrical goods.

A much more complex and larger store in the closing stages of development. So far ther are in excess of 5 000 products but, with the final database upload, this will eventually be more like 50 000.

standard features

These features come out-of-the-box as standard:

Customer / Frontend Functionality

• All orders stored in the database for fast and efficient retrieval
• Customers can view their order history and order statuses
• Customers can maintain their accounts
• Addressbook for multiple shipping and billing addresses
• Temporary shopping cart for guests and permanent shopping cart for customers
• Fast and friendly quick search and advanced search features
• Product reviews for an interactive shopping experience
• Forseen checkout procedure
• Secure transactions with SSL
• Number of products in each category can be shown or hidden
• Global and per-category bestseller lists
• Display what other customers have ordered with the current product shown
• Breadcrumb trail for easy site navigation

Administration / Backend Functionality

• Supports unlimited products and categories
• Products-to-categories structure
• Categories-to-categories structure
• Add/Edit/Remove categories, products, manufacturers, customers, and reviews
• Support for physical (shippable) and virtual (downloadable) products
• Contact customers directly via email or newsletters
• Easily backup and restore the database
• Print invoices and packaging lists from the order screen
• Statistics for products and customers
• Multilingual support
• Multicurrency support
• Automatically update currency exchange rates
• Select what to display, and in what order, in the product listing page /li>
• Support for static and dynamic banners with full statistics

Product Functionality

• Dynamic product attributes relationship
• HTML based product descriptions
• Automated display of specials
• Control if out of stock products can still be shown and are available for purchase
• Customers can subscribe to products to receive related emails/newsletters

Payment Functionality

• Accept numerous offline payment processing (cheque, money orders, offline credit care processing, ..)
• Accept numerous online payment processing (2CheckOut, PayPal, Authorize.net, iPayment, ..)
• Disable certain payment services based on a zone basis

Shipping Functionality

• Weight, price, and destination based shipping modules
• Real-time quotes available (UPS, USPS, FedEx, ..)
• Free shipping based on amount and destination
• Disable certain shipping services based on a zone basis

Tax Functionality

• Flexible tax implementation on a state and country basis
• Set different tax rates for different products
• Charge tax on shipping on a per shipping service basis

custom features...

• Search-Engine-Friendly URLs
• Dynamic drop-down menu's
• Basic WYSIWYG cms to handle content add/edit new pages
• crisp thumbnail images using special server-based functions
• Quick-buy/purchase without an account ability
• Off-server images

In addition to the above and for very large product catalogues the uploading of products/categories/sections can be done via an Access database or from an Excel file.

For the full package the system can be seamlessly integrated into our Joomla-based cms. This effectively mergers the account process.

If you're one of the many people who are setting up, or about to setup, their first website, here's some important information that will help you get started.

think of a domain name

Think up a name, and check if [thatname].com is taken. If you can't get that exact name as a dot-com, you could try it as .co.uk, .net or .org.