Date line: January 2011...
Welcome to 2011! We are hoping this will be a great year, full of the things that have seemed so lacking in the last few years. 2011 is certainly shaping up like it will be a powerful, successful year for many, many people.
The Whisper Tools are now being used in a new project, www.depoebay.biz. This is a new business directory for the Depoe Bay, Oregon area. The developers are finding the Whisper Tools easy to use, providing a powerful framework for development both of the web pages and for new features not previously part of the Whisper Tools.
Dateline: December 2010...
The Whisper Tools are gearing up for serious beta testing of the basic package (which includes CORE, CMS and PIX). If you are interested in joining the beta test team, contact us!
The Whisper Tools are in operation in several commercial websites now and are functioning well. One website even has portions of the Membership module (MBR) and Publications module (PUBS) working in it, to manage their publish-by-email newsletter. Folks can sign up for their newsletter, confirm their email address, all without any webmaster or administrator interaction. Publishing the monthly newsletter is then a very simple process for the newsletter staff: create the cover "letter" (email text), attach the newsletter file (pdf or zip) and click on publish! Off it goes. The PUBS module will meter the sendings out at a pace that will not exceed the typical limitations hosts place on sending emails (a cap of 500 emails an hour is one typical suc limitation). With in a few minutes, however, even a large mailing will have gone out to all subscribers. (See www.unityglenedenbeach.org, if you are interested in what it looks like on the public side)
New website under development: www.depoebay.biz. This is a new venture, using the Whisper Tools. A custom module (for business directories -- BIZ) is in process of development. Working with CORE, PIX, CMS and especially MBR, this new module will provide the remaining pieces for businesses to go in, apply for a directory listing account, enter in their business profiles, etc. The administrators can then approve the account (verifying the business listing is a good practice in this case, prior to allowing an account to become public), assign resources (that is, authorize the new business directory member one or another plan, optionally assign them additional Whisper resources) and so on. The business member gets an notification, and he can not log in to his control panel and maintain his directory listings, one-page website (a fancy profile sheet, really) or his full website, if his plan includes that. Etc, etc. This is a very exciting new project. Business directories are very popular on the internet.
Google Mobile and Google Maps are two very important, and almost completely ignored resources on the internet for small businesses, and web professionals. The Whisper Tools will be including various widgets and administrative tools to assist the user with including these resources in his authored pages. Mainly, the very fact that these are included in the tools we hope will raise awareness that this important resource exists on the internet. If you are a website or eBusiness professional, you may want to look into this matter yourself. There are many professionals making regular monthly income helping small business owners who are technically savvy or who just don't wish to be involved technically, to keep their Google Maps and Google Mobile online content fresh and sparkly. Look for support for this coming soon with the Whisper Tools
The Whisper Tools new home site (oddly enough, www.whispertools.com) is still being tinkered together. Yes, of course we are building it with the Whisper Tools. Why use anything else? It's a fast, fast way to build a website. It will include in time much in the way of technical support articles and discussions about using the Whisper Tools. In the meantime, if you need to contact us, say for info about getting on with the beta testing program or (gosh) for information about acquiring a copy of the Tools for use with a website, mail us at mail@whispertools.com
2010 is winding down... But 2011 is on the launching pad and lift-off is getting very close. It's going to be a very exciting year. Lot's to do, lot's to do, lot's to do...