Date line: 16 Feb 2015...
We're on track for having a beta of the CORE package available for download, come the first of March. (Gasp!) It's been fun, and still is. We're all very excited here. We really believe this package will is something wonderful. We're testing and trimming and tuning the basic framework, making sure it works as well as possible by the first of the month. We're also putting together the (very) many pages (and more to follow) that make up the WhisperTools site itself (using the WhisperTools to craft it all, of course!). Several other websites will be using the WhisperTools to set themselves up in the (very) near future, and we'll be working closely with these (brave) folks to collect feedback, address issues and make sure it's both as easy to use and as robust as the original vision meant for it to be.
The CORE package (details available soon on what that means) will be a free download, and it includes a ton of features. Other modules (as they become available) may be free or may have a small charge on them, depending. ("CORE Package," by the way, means the Framework, Content Authoring and Managed Pictures modules. It is the basic package, and includes a glorious amount of functionality. Detail pages will be up shortly on this website, describing all modules, those ready to use (or test out, at least) and those slated for development shortly.
Installation will be easy and straight-forward. Approximately five minutes (plus the amount of time it takes you to fill in the blanks) and your new site will be ready to craft. Training videos will be made available (hosted via YouTube, naturally) as quickly as they can be shot.
We'll also be offering web hosting packages, that includes the WhisperTools&trade IV IDP (Internet Development Platform) already installed and ready to rock and roll. Prices on these hosting packages will be very competitive, with or without the WhisperTools.
We plan to offer Icon and Graphic libraries, "themes" (site layout templates and resources, to produce a particular "look and feel" to your website without having to invent it all yourself), and other resources, online. There will also be developer guidelines and tools, for those who wish to craft themes, publish their own icons and graphics, or create more add-ons (modules, widgets, etc) that may be made available through our "App Store."
Well, lot's to do, so we're going to get back to work now. Stay tuned...
Date line: 4 Jan 2015...
Flash! The offical release date for the WhisperTools™ IV (core package) and the WhipserTools website has been moved forward to 1 March 2015. This is to give us a far better chance to make that good (and only) first impression.
Date line: 1 Jan 2015
Happy New Year!! 2015 is going to be AWESOME!
Date line: November 2014...
Flash! The offical release date for the WhisperTools™ IV (core package) and the new WhipserTools website has been set for January 10, 2015. We're all very excited here. (A little stressed, too... know anything about producing software on a deadline? Actually, we hope you don't. That's our job, to take the stress out of it for you.)
Stay tuned. Portions of the main website are going to become available shortly. The entire new website will open up official on the 10th of the new year.
Date line: October 2014...
Very exciting news: a new and fabulous version of the WhisperTools™ system, to be called the WhisperTools™ IV, Website Development Platform is under heavy development right now. It has a vast array of advanced systems built into it right from the ground up. It is extremely flexible, scalable, secure and "robust" (to borrow and old term).
It is an entirely new system, drawing on all of our experience from the past versions of the system, and incorporating the newest technology we've been developing as part of the WorldSmith GDP module / add-on. Page / Object scripting, enhanced authoring templates, fiercer security, great ease of use. It is designed for every user, from small "electronic brochure" web sites, up to full scaled membership / social media sites, up to game platform sites supporting 10's (or 100's) of thousands of users, up to "build your own website with us" web sites.
As always, the basic package will continue to be a free download. Then there is a large panoply of wondrous add-ons, themes (other-where known as "templates"), widgets and Awesome Marvels for the 21st Century.
(It also incorporates a larger sense of humor, as you may have already noticed. At Computer Maestros, LLC, we remember when the computer industry had an awesome sense of humor and was totally unashamed of it. That was also when the computer industry was growing wildly and dynamically. Then the "suits" stepped in and said "no, no humor here; that's not professional," and the industry began to slow down. (Of course, that's really because the "suits" didn't know that the tech industry can't be run the same way as, say, a shoe outlet; but we'll pretend it was the loss of humor and joy that did it - which it did.)
Basic Package: Everything starts with and requires the basic package, which (besides the infrastructure that makes the whole thing work) includes CORE, CMS, and PIX, more meaningfully known as:
General Features (Settings, Databases, Traffic Analysis, Accounts, etc) (aka, "CORE") ...
Content Authoring (Layouts, Icons, Snippets, Pages, Menus, Styles, Themes, Sprites) (aka, "CMS") ...
Pictures Management (Pictures, Galleries, SlideShows, Contact Sheets, Frames, Borders, Effects) (aka, "PIX") ...
Blogs & Comments (aka "BLOG"), a basic blog and page comments system. Allows visitors to your site to leave comments about a page, if you should wish them to. These can be automatically posted to the page, or set to go through the administrator for approval first. Page comments are a common thing on many websites. You can also set up discussion forums and conversational threads, using this system. So it's a full blog system. Will work with the Word Nanny (provided by the CORE system), if you wish to have automatic word censoring.
Calendar (aka "CAL"), provides a calendar of up-coming events and/or the ability to have your website visitors schedule appointments, what ever your service is that might want appointments (in-person, or over-the-phone, or skype, or how ever you do your appointments). It will even collect payment from them at the time they schedule the appointment, should you wish it to do so. (There are services on the internet you can rent month-to-month that will provide this service, and some of them are quite expensive. But it's a simple service, really, and here's an add-on module for the WhisperTools™ that provides it for you. Just set up the links on the pages you wish, choose the styles you want things presented in, and answer a couple questions about your payment gateway (PayPal, or what ever you use to collect credit/debit cards), and off you go.)
eShopping & Payment Gateway (aka "CART") provides a basic payment gateway service, allowing you to take credit and debit cards for payments and donations. It favors PayPal but will also work with several other services. There is a shopping cart provided, also, so that visitors to your website can pick out several things to purchase prior to check out. If you wish, they can even save the shopping cart for another visit.
Facebook (aka "FB") module provides some basic Facebook support, allowing you to link up your website with a Facebook fan page for your site, or get log in / registration to your website using Facebook login, and several other cool things.
FormBuilder (aka "FORM"), provides you a pretty nifty tool for creating forms and handling the data from those forms intelligently. BUilding a form to insert on your website can be tedious at best, and confusingly complex if you're not familiar with that technology. This allows you to design a form in a graphical way, simplifying the whole process for you. These forms can then be used later on any time you wish. The results can be added to your database, or emailed to you, or how ever you wish to handle it.
World Geo Data (aka "GEO") provides basic geographic data, such as countries, US states, North American postal codes, and quite a few cities all over the world, along with data such as lattitude and longitude, (very) approximate population data for the larger cities, and so on. Can be quite useful for various applications.
Holidays (aka "HOLIDAYS"), allows you to have your website recognize any of various holidays and respond by, say, changing out the header to something to match the occasion, or change the color scheme or turn on various pages that only apply at certain times of the year, and so on. This makes it easy-easy to give you website an up-to-the-moment appearance.
Membership (aka "MBR"), a full-blown, fully powered membership package allows you to do an amazing variety of things for those who sign up / join your website. These can be free accounts, paid accounts, of any of several grades (pretty much define any number of membership account types as you like). You can give the members their own control panel / home page / wall, if you wish to do so. You can assign them resources of their own (say, one or more web pages they can craft and control themselves, or email accounts, etc -- many resources can be assigned to members). Membership lets visitors feel like they have a personal involvement with your site and makes it more like they will come back in the future. Especially if it's a paid account. (Works with the CART module to get payments.)
Publications & eMail (aka "PUBS"), allows you to set up mailing lists, subscription lists, create newsletters and compose emails, from various templates (or create your own) and send these out on a schedule, in the moment, or however you wish to do your publications. eBook publication support is slated for the near future.
Three-D (aka "3D") allows you to add "3D" objects to your web pages. You just kind of have to see it to believe it.
WorldSmith GDP (aka "WORLD_SMITH") a complete internet game development platform.
And several others slated for development.
There will also be a complete library of "themes" (web page templates for styling and layout), and lots of additional widgets and add-ons. There is also a module (a WhisperTools™ IV add-on) in development to assist with the development of more modules (obviously for programmers and developers who wish to create products that can leverage the WhisperTools™ IV).