Site Builder (aka Cool Tools) System Update: 4.17 is chock full of wonderful new features, summarized below.

Please let us know if you need our consulting help implementing any of these Cool Tools on your website. (Remember, these features are available only on the sites implemented with our Cool Tools system — officially named Site Builder. Not sure whether you're using a Cool Tools system? Simply contact us and we'll tell you.)

We are always looking to improve the quality of our services and your feedback is appreciated. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let us know.

MOBILE WEB PAGES
More and more internet users are using mobile devices such as the iPhone or Android. This release includes support for adding mobile optimized pages. You can create new pages that are designed to work on advanced mobile devices.

The mobile support is not for all mobile devices. It is designed to work with advanced mobile smartphones such as the iPhone and Android based devices that have full HTML support (we are not supporting WAP based phones).

To add mobile pages to your site, go to the page list and click the Mobile Website Settings button. Click here to view the Precision Computing Arts Sample Mobile Website.

BLOG ENHANCEMENTS
New customization options let you customize the styles, fonts, colors of many of the blog display elements. You also can customize how many blog posts are displayed on the first page. You can set the system to show all the posts from the last 7 days, last 30 days, or you can specify the number of posts to display. (We have customized some features of this blog to illustrate the latest and greatest.)

ECOMMERCE - REWARDS
With the ecommerce rewards system enabled, you can give your customers discounts for shopping at your website. Customers will earn reward points for making purchases at your website. They can log in to their accounts and redeem the reward points for credit that can be used on future purchases. You can configure how points are converted, which products are included/excluded, and set specfic products to be worth more/less points.

FORM BUILDER DATA

The form builder now allows you to view your form data on your website. All data is saved in a forms database. To view form data, you can log in to your website, click the Form Data link under Administration > Reports/Info and select the form that you want to view.

The form data csv file also has been updated. The csv data file for newly submitted forms will contain the form data fields in the file header. This will make it much easier to use/import the file into other applications. The form data file also contains all data fields such as radio buttons and checkboxes. Each time you change the form field data structure, a new csv file is created.

SECURE FORMS (requires UPGRADE to Business Website or better)
With the secure forms upgrade you can use the form builder to collect form information over a secure https:// page. The data that is submitted is saved in your site admin. You can then login to your site to view the form data over a secure link.

• When visitors browse to a page with a secure form they will be redirected to a https:// version of the page.
• Form data is not sent in the form, but you will receive an email notification when a secuform has been sent.
• You must log in to your website to view form data. To get started viewing data, go to the Admin page and choose Administration > Reports/Info > Form Data in the lefthand column. Or, edit the form, scroll down to the bottom SECURE FORM section, and click the link below Form Data.
• The secure form cannot be used to collect credit card/billing information.

Application Database - AppDb (requires UPGRADE to Business Website or better) 
Use the AppDb feature to set up a searchable/sortable data table. You can define your own custom fields when setting up the data table. To create a new AppDb, go to the page list, create a new page, and click the AppDb page type. You may have up to 3 AppDbs per site. Click here for a sample application database.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
You can add the social networking icons to the bottom of the product catalog detail pages. Social networking icons allow visitors to share the product page/information on their social networking pages (twitter, facebook...) To add the social networking icons to product detail pages, log in to your website, and then click Social Networking link under Site Editor > Settings on the left side of the page.

Google Buzz has been added to the list of social networking icons.

DESIGN

• New groupbox styles
• Advanced css menu settings (align right, margin/spacing, menu bar settings)
• Animated text/css menus
• Up to six groupbox styles available

MISCELLANEOUS UPDATES 

• Image tools: A slider on the main resize image page allows you to easily reduce the image size by moving the slider.
• Footer styles: Advanced padding/border/margin settings allow you to enhance the footer styles area.
• Image gallery/rotator: All image gallery/rotator modes support the image description display.
• Product search: The product search from within the store manager allows you to change the product category/login after clicking on the edit link from the search.
• Ecommerce order notes: Append to Notes button allows you to enter time stamped updates to the order notes area.

FIREFOX 3.6 FILE UPLOAD/DRAG DROP
Firefox 3.6 supports the HTML5 enhanced multi file upload. When the advanced file upload option is enabled, you can use the Firefox 3.6 upload features. When you browse to select files to upload, you can select multiple files in the file open dialog box.

Drag/drop upload: A drop files box appears next to the file upload/browse button. To upload files via drag/drop, open a file/explorer window. Select the files you want to upload, click the files and drag the files to the "drop files" area in the browser window. The files will be uploaded to your website.

UPGRADED RATE PLANS
This release comes with some revised web hosting rate plans, with more bang for your buck! Please see the New Plan Updates - 8/2010 blog entry for details.

Site Builder (aka Cool Tools) System Update 4.16 offers many exciting new features and changes, summarized below.

Please let us know if you need our consulting help implementing any of these Cool Tools on your website. (Remember, these features are available only on the sites implemented with our Cool Tools system — officially named Site Builder. Not sure whether you're using a Cool Tools system? Simply contact us and we'll tell you.)

ROTATING BANNERS and OVERLAY TEXT
The banner/header system now supports rotating banners and custom overlay text/HTML. The rotating banner feature enables you to set up a sequence of banner images. The header area will cycle through the banner images, fading in and out between each image. Other options include banners that randomly display each time a page is viewed.

In addition to multiple banners, a text/HTML overlay can be set up that goes on top of each banner in the sequence. You can set the text, size and the position of the overlay. One use of the overlay text would be to create clickable text/image links that are in the banner area.

Instructions: Admin > Site Design Tools > Header & Images > Rotating Banners/Overlay tab

CUSTOMIZE FONTS AND STYLES

• Text/css menus
  Customize the colors and style for text based menus. Customizations include font color, style and background color for the regular menu, selected menu and hover over menu (to use this feature, you may need to reselect your layout or reselect your menu button style).
  Instructions:  Admin > Site Design Tools > Menu Design > (main menu or submenu tab) > Select TEXT menu button
• Forms
  Customize the style for your website forms. Adjust the font size, colors, borders and spacing of your form fields/labels.
  Instructions:  Admin > Site Design Tools > Text/Font Settings
• Product catalog display
  The product customizations allow you to set the borders/backgrounds/colors/fonts/styles for over 20 different areas in the product catalog display. The customizable areas include the product title, product links, labels, price fields, description text, title areas and more.
  Instructions:  Admin > Site Design Tools > Text/Font Settings

TABBED ACCORDION VIEW

The new accordion mode displays a vertical list of tab names with the tab content below the tab name. The update also includes an option to set the font size for the tab and accordion text.

Instructions:  Admin > Page List > (select a page to edit) > Insert Component > Design Accents > Tabbed Content > Change Layout > Accordion Content Box

ECOMMERCE - PRODUCT IMAGES

The product thumbnail image feature has been enhanced. The images are now be easier to set up. With the site builder preview/flash upload enabled, you can upload multiple thumbnail images at the same time for a product. The new thumbnail option displays the thumbnail preview images directly below the main product image on the product detail page. When a thumbnail image is clicked, the main product image will change to display the larger image for the thumbnail. This option lets customers view more product images directly from the product detail page. 

Instructions: Admin > Setup Products > (create or edit a product and add the main large and thumbnail images) >  Add More Product Images > In the More Images drop-down box, specify how the thumbnails should look and their width; you also can specify the number of columns in the Product Images Display Settings area. Then, choose upload image(s)/create thumbnails > specify the image settings > select & upload file and upload the files you want.

ECOMMERCE REPORTS

• Profit/cost report 
• Sales by state 
• Sales by country
• Updated graph/chart style

Instructions: Admin > Ecommerce Reports > select options under Sales Reports

COUNTDOWN TIMER

You may add a countdown timer to your website. The dynamically updating timer displays the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds to the date that you specify. You can set a destination page that users are taken to when the counter expires.

Instructions: Edit any page > click the Add button > Insert Component > Standard/HTML >  Countdown timer > Add Countdown Timer. Then, configure the timer.

ECOMMERCE MAP BUTTON

A map button has been added to the user account details page and the order detail page. When you click the MapIt button, a new window that displays a map of the user's contact address.

Instructions: Admin > Customer Database > select Account Details for a customer > MapIt. Or, Admin > View / Process Orders > select View/Process link for a customer > click MapIt > select either the main customer or the shipping address tab to see the detailed map.

MISCELLANEOUS UPDATES

• Set the font size for tabs in the tabbed content component 
• Updated image manager resize and crop features to work in FireFox 
• Added new view to image manager to see files 
• Added option to center align the main menu
• Popup calendar for date selection (blog, calendar, coupon editor)
• Text editor 2.0: background preview - allows you to see how your text will look on dark or light backgrounds

DESIGN SYSTEM

• New logos
• Updated banners
• Gradient maker (background images)
• Layout properties - updated page for selecting  page width

SITE BUILDER PREVIEW - MISCELLANEOUS UPDATES

• Miscellaneous graphic updates and adjustments 
• Added drop down menu to page properties button

USER MANUAL

The new downloadable site builder user manual is now available from the main help page.  The manual is a 14 Mb downloadable PDF file. The manual contains screen shots and instructions for using the site builder system. 

Our "Cool Tools" web hosting service has made it easier than ever to create and edit websites. So if you are maintaining your own website through our service, or you have friends, colleagues, or family members who want to set up their own websites, please tell them about these features, as well as our free 10-day trial sites. 

One of the coolest new features is the Site Builder Preview, a spiffy new user interface that looks better and is better organized than the standard interface, making site editing setup and maintenance easier than ever before. To access this feature, log in to your Admin page. Then click the Site builder preview link under News and Updates.

What else is new? New design templates, improved logo handling and new logo designs, new backgrounds and background features, new groupboxes, social networking features, mailing list and landing page referral tracking, and automatic email responses when users fill out a form on your site. You'll also find new Ecommerce features, including an updated store home page, support for editing coupons, the ability to use multiple gift certificates upon checkout, and more. The Help and Tutorials also have been improved. For a detailed summary of the features described above, simply log into your Admin page and then click the System Update - ver. 4.15 [09/26/2009] link under News and Information.

Want More New Features?

Here are a few from an update installed 11/2009.

• More new template layouts
• The ability to hide the top banner
• The ability to update the top bar image for certain templates
• Improved Background design page, including a background gradient maker
• More control over the appearance of popup menus and the design layout width
• Seasonal logos (Thanksgiving and end-of-year Holidays coming soon)

For consulting help using these features, or to have us incorporate any of these features into your own website, please contact us. (Note: These features are available only to customers whose websites are built using our "Cool Tools" content management systems. Most Precision Computing Arts customers are on this newer system, but a few of our clients remain on an older Dreamweaver based system. Not sure which system you're using? Just drop us a line and we'll gladly let you know.)

Our web hosting service has made it easier than ever to sign up for trial sites. So if you have any friends, colleagues, or family members who want to set up their own websites, please tell them about our free 10-day trial sites. They can sign up right from our home page at http://pcartsonline.com.

New accounts can sign up in either of two ways:

• START button - For those who want to design their own site. The START button will take them through the design selection and account setup process.
• Quick signup - doesn't require selection of a design. This is handy for people who are planning to have us custom design their websites.

Questions? Feel free to contact us.

Our web hosting service has added some great new "Cool Tools" features. Customers who are hosted with Precision Computing Arts / Fastwebdev can use these new features to enhance their websites.

Not hosted with us? Contact us to see whether a website makeover or conversion to our user-maintainable system is right for you!

System Update: 4.14d - [05/29/2009] Summary of Features

Design

• text/style preview on the color selection page
• new backgrounds
• color scheme generator updated - text/style preview & an option to set the background color
• text & styles - pre-defined text styles optimized for dark/light backgrounds
• footer style - option to customize the footer text/links and the footer menu
• new designs in the design library

Customers who are using a web hosting system provided by Precision Computing Arts / Fastwebdev will be happy to know about two new features:

• Multi-Column Layouts for your interactive forms.
• Default Product Layouts for your shopping cart.

These features are described briefly below. If you need more help, please contact us (normal hourly consulting rates apply).

ENJOY!

Multi-Column Forms
You can now set up multi-column forms using the form builder. Follow these steps:

1. Create a new form or edit an existing form.
2. Click the the "column" field type icon (see example below).
   
3. Enter a name for the column in the Label field of the Form Field Properties box and click Save.
4. Move the field Up or Down to where the new column should begin.
5. Save your changes.

To clear the columns and create a new row in your form, add the "column" field type and select the "clear column set" option in the Form Field Properties box.

You can see an example of a multi-column form on our Interactive Examples page.

Default Product Layouts
The new default layout feature makes it easier to manage your ecommerce product layouts. To take advantage of this feature, choose the default layout when creating (or editing) your products and categories.

To change the look of the default layout, simply go to the general store settings page and change the default layout. The appearance of all the categories and products that use default layouts will update instantly!

Before this update, you would need to edit each individual product/category to change its layout. You still can choose specific layouts for individual categories/products as needed.

To set up default product overview and product details layouts, follow these steps:

1. Go to the General Store Settings section of your main store page.
2. Set up the default product overview layout (for category pages).
3. Set up the default product details layout.
4. Save your changes.

To ensure that your categories and products use the default layouts, select the default layout when creating or changing the category properties or products. The default layout icon is shown below: