Evergarden Farms has chosen Sitemaker CMS as its web publishing platform. The indoor gardening firm registered its domain in 20xx and switched to Sitemaker in 2019.

All Sitemaker and Journalmaker users are encouraged to read our terms and conditions regularly. The last update was November 7. Our agreements call for users to adhere to terms and conditions as most recently published.

We've posted some ideas for new bloggers to help new bloggers get started quickly. The tips are a combination of experiences of our users and ourselves.

Read more...

The Sign-In and Join (Add Listing) links in the navigation bar of Sitemaker's Directory tool have been repositioned to compensate for a problem in - surprise! - Internet Explorer in which the rightmost link was displaced to the right of the screen.

Edmonds2030.com is a new site running on the Sitemaker platform. It contains a community planning "conversation" among property owners and citizens regarding redevelopment of the town's downtown core.

Key features of the site, which is managed by local participants, include a News and Commentary (blog) section, links to relevant planning resources, and space for posting design concepts.

Edmonds is located about 20 miles north of Seattle on the east side of Puget Sound. It is a major terminal for the WA State Ferries system, and the impending relocation and expansion of the ferry terminal is a major factor impelling the planning effort.

Visit Edmonds 2030

The ubiquitous blog is approaching your office, coming down the corporate hallway, according to Michael Calore, writing in Monkey Bites, which is, of course, a blog. He describes the efforts of two mid-size hosting companies to offer blogging platforms to help large companies make use of the blogging concept.

Clark IP offers a similar approach for smaller businesses and non-profits, but its low-cost CIP Sitemaker© service also integrates the blog into a comprehensive publishing platform that is adaptable into a full range of sites and is not limited to a blog-dominated structure.

Continues...

Calore Article

Washington State Atty. Genl. Rob McKenna has announced a new agreement with PayPal on clarity in customer rights terms. The agreement provides for better disclosure and clarifies remedies available to users of the popular payment service.

Clark IP and Sitemaker-Journalmaker use PayPal for subscriptions, and PayPal shopping carts are embedded in numerous user sites. Clark IP is not a party to the agreement. The text of the announcement is linked below for the convenience of site owners.

McKenna Announcement

Version 2.4 was installed May 10, and first reports are that operations are normal, if not slightly faster. Users should examine their sites and report any issues to the Sitemaker Team. Most first-round reports concern users' own hard-coded HTML and CSS code.

The new version includes a more sophisticated article management tool called the Journalmaker™ package, which adds several features from our older Journalmaker system to Sitemaker. Journalmaker will henceforth be considered an upgrade package. Journalmaker now includes the formerly separate business directory, which now supports links to maps, coupons and print media advertising views, with more to come.

Most parts of the system have been revisited in this new version. Code has been improved, and some formerly external included files and subsystems have been embedded, which the authors believe will result in performance improvements.

Stay tuned! We'll be describing new features and adding or modifying the help system over the next few weeks.

If you're not already using CIP Sitemaker this would be a good time to jump on board. If you are, thanks for your continued support!

Clark Internet Publishing has announced that it will add a Podcast tool to its CIP Sitemaker content management system. The tool will manage audio files and display a list of podcast episodes.

Podcasting is a new way to add sound files to a web site. The files can be played from a web page, downloaded for replay on the computer or a portable player, or retrieved from any of several podcast indexing sites.

Applications abound. Businesses can embed sales pitches or training files. Churches can embed music or sermons. Schools can embed lessons or learning resources. With Sitemaker's Podcast tool, these will appear as a seamless part of the same site, accessible with a single click, inline with related content.

Unlike sites that only host podcasts, the Sitemaker Podcast tool is embedded among other content. This allows a visitor to experience sound files without leaving the site (and being diverted to other content by advertising).

Continues...

LETI-DFS.org is on board with CIP Sitemaker. The organization provides research and assistance for students seeking scholarships and financial assistance. It is an chapter of Dollars for Scholars and Citizens Scholarship Foundation of America.

Latino Education and Training Institute of Lynnwood, Washington, is a ten year old association of hispanic business leaders in Snohomish County seeking to smooth integration of latino immigrants into US business and society. Founded by mortgage broker Rosario Reyes, the institute benefits or provides language training (ESL) and other services in addition to support of the DFS chapter.

LETI-DFS

We have installed techniques to reduce form spamming in Sitemaker guest books. The GBs also restrict users' ability to post URLs and use objectionable language.

To manage the changes we have set all guest books to require validation of posts by the editor. Editors should sign in and check their guest book settings. You can set the guest book back to free posting if you wish.

While your guest book is set to require approval, you should set the GB to notify you of new posts. You can then log in and activate or delete posts at your convenience.

Our favorite young American novelist, Natasha Friend, has announced the completion and forthcoming publication of her second novel. Her first, Perfect, about a teenager's battle with grief and an eating disorder, opened to great reviews and is in at least its third printing. The new book is about the effect of alcoholism on teenagers in a family. Natasha's work with teenagers as a teacher and counselor has given her special insight, her writing is at just the right complexity for her teenage audience, and the Perfect story line is strong enough to hold adult interest, which made Perfect an ideal stimulus for teen-parent conversation. We're sure her band of fans is holding its collective breath. RC

Natasha Friend, Perfect

Sitemaker Directory now has sign in features on the main navigation bar that is found atop all directory pages. The former procedure of signing in from the brochure page of the listing has been removed.

This is part of our migration to a unified login for all user features. Watch SM News for more items describing these changes during Fall 2006.

Take some new colors out for a spin! Test Drive lets you try out color schemes for your website - privately!

Test Drive makes no actual changes to your site's settings. While you're taking the test drive other visitors to your site will still see the current set of colors, so it's safe to test color schemes throughly before commiting to them.

When you click the Test Drive link a new window opens. Your website will load with the theme you've selected. Click any link, peruse your whole site, try it out! To end the test drive simply close the window.

How does Test Drive work?

Test Drive sets a cookie that overides your site's currently selected colors. Because the Test Drive cookie is only on your browser, you are the only one who sees the test colors.

Test Drive may not work correctly if you have encoded custom content in the Site Title section of your site.

CIP Sitemaker can be used to unify literary communities in several ways. From a shared blog to a full-scale online magazine, Sitemaker can make it easy for a community to exchange ideas about a favorite author, genre or any other theme. We already support sites focusing on current and past authors.

Continues...