Archive for the ‘Website Tools’ Category

Yahoo! Site Explorer

Monday, April 21st, 2008

By Mitch “Yipee!” Keeler

Now I know many of us have used Google’s Webmaster Tools section a time or two, and maybe even submitted our own site map to it. Did you know though that you can do the same with Yahoo! search? The Yahoo! Site Explorer is one way to make sure that Yahoo! knows you are on the web and ready to be indexed.

yahoo-site-explorer

One really cool thing is that they allow you to submit your RSS feed to be crawled too. You can also setup dynamic URLs. There are up to three dynamic parameters that you want Yahoo! to treat specially whenever these are seen in URLs belonging to your web site in question. Think of it as redirects that only Yahoo! can see.

All in all, I would say the Yahoo! Site Explorer is another “site stuff” bookmark you should be sure to submit yourself to.

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Original post by Mitch

Add Some Lunartastic Content to Netvibes

Friday, April 18th, 2008

By Mitch “Netviber” Keeler

Want to add Lunartics, the Lunarpages Newsletter and the recent posts from Lunarforums all onto your own Lunarpages tab inside of Netvibes? Of course you do, silly. You can never have enough Lunartastic tips, tricks, articles and more. Thanks to the ease of creating a custom page via Netvibes I have this all ready and packaged together just for you.

lunarpages-netvibes-tab

All you need to do is click on the button bellow to add it to your own Netvibes setup.

Add to Netvibes

I can promise you there is no better way to start your day!

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Original post by Mitch

Design Beautiful Tabs with TabCreatr

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

By Mitch &quotLoves CSS&quot Keeler

I am always in search for tools out there that will make the webmaster’s job an easier one.  One of the most recent ones I have run across is called TabCreatr.  The web site is still in "alpha" release, but already has a lot to love. All you need to do is visit the page, and click on the link to Start TabCreatr

From there you choose from a selection of drop down boxes and options how you want your tabs to look. 

free-tab-css-creator

After you are done, just grab the code and you are ready to go.  Know of an easier way to create a tabbed navigation from scratch?  TabCreatr almost makes the whole CSS design process too easy!

&copy Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

Want to Advertise on the Lunartics Blog?

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

by Tiara Rea

We get a few advertising requests every now and then, so we’ve been searching for a nice little feature that could help you guys get some space on our blog without really overwhelming the site with ugly advertisements. So we have implemented Scratchback, a unique widget that works more as a tip jar than an advertising panel, but with the same benefits as advertising.

Here’s how it works:

Scroll down on the left menu till you see the widget that asks “Are You in My Top Spots?”

If you’d like to have your link on the Lunartics Blog, simply click on the Spot you’d like, write up your text link and description, and you can post your text link instantly.

And what’s the cost, you ask? Five buckaroos! Yep, only $5 per link! I bolded that because I think it’s uber cheap. ;)

Your ads will stay on the Lunartics Blog for 24 hours after we approve it, and once that 24 hours is up, the Top Spot will again become available for purchase. So if you want to keep your link there, you can put another $5 in our tip jar or tip $5 to get your friend’s website up there! Keep in mind, all the money we get from your tips goes right back into your hosting as we pay for new servers, add new features, or impliment new partnerships.

We have 20 Top Spots for sale to give everybody a chance, so if your website would be a great compliment to our Lunartics Blog, or you’d just like to leave us a tip, we welcome you to give this a shot!

And if you like the way this little widget works, get your own from Scratchback!

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blo⡕

Original post by Tiara

Easy Bookmarking for Your Visitors

Friday, February 8th, 2008

By Mitch “Loves Sharing” Keeler

Got a question sent my way the other day from a Lunartics reader who wanted to know my suggestion for the easiest way to add those “bookmark at..” icons onto your web site layout. There are many different routes you could go but my favorite is AddThis.com.

Share Your Page???s Links

They make it super easy to add this functionality to any web page. All you have to do is sign up, login and then copy/paste the code into your web site template or design. They also work with a slew of the content management systems out there (like WordPress, Joomla, and more).

It is also being used right now by: TIME, Tower Records, TechCrunch, PGA, EW, Lonely Planet, Topix, IGN, InStyle, and many more so you know you’ll be in good company.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Mitch

Web Hosting Benefits for Businesses

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

By Tiara Rea

Customers, clients, and a faithful audience of readers and supporters have become the foundation of successful businesses in the online world. If the people who truly understand your product recommend it and your services to those around them, they will stand by your decisions and even help you grow by offering their own opinions and assistance. For example, Lunarpages customers are known for this amazing assistance - they comment, they review, and they spread the word.

Having an online presence for your business is an important part of the success of your company in the contemporary market, so here are some tips for those who have not made the leap into e-business success yet. (more…)

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Tiara

PHP Web Hosting: 5 Things You Can Do with PHP

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

by Tiara Rea

PHP is probably the most popular server side scripting language and is also a free part of any good web hosting company’s services. With Lunarpages, the newest versions of PHP are kept up to date and are always free. This is mostly because PHP is open source and does not require any licensing fees, so Lunarpages can provide it free for every webmaster! This is great news for website owners who would like to add some incredible features to their repertoire.

But though many people have heard of PHP web hosting, what exactly can you do with PHP? Well I’m here to show you 5 awesome things! (more…)

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Original post by Tiara

Choosing the Best Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

by Tiara Rea

A lot of customers at Lunarpages use ecommerce features to enhance their sites. Since we offer four different shopping cart software alternatives, many people wonder which one works best and what the major differences are between each. So, I’m here to help you choose the perfect shopping cart! :)

agora.JPG

The Agora Shopping Cart features design integration for cascading style sheets/CSS, templates and HTML, PERL, and even JavaScript. You can also take charge of merchandising and inventory management by generating unique product pages, adding unlimited options for each product to vary by size, color, weight, etc, adding unlimited categories and sub-categories, and even classifying taxes, best selling items, and discount codes. This makes order processing and order management incredibly easy, since you can generate creative order confirmation emails, HTML order forms, and handle multiple payment processing gateways. With the ability to view order logs by date, year, status, etc, and support for various shipping arrangements, many customers prefer Agora to the competition. Of course, you also get it as a one-click installation through the Lunarpages cPanel. ;)

oscommerce.JPG

Since they’ve been in business for over 6 years, OsCommerce is one of the leading E-Commerce shopping systems in the world and probably the best known as well, serving over 12,000 storefronts and 150,000 webmasters. Their software runs on any operating system or machine, so it’s Windows and Linux-friendly and compatable with Macs too. There is a one-click installation for OsCommerce via Fantastico through the Lunarpages cPanel, and since it works on a template-based structure, integration into your website and everyday updating is simple. Like Agora, osCommerce supports unlimited categories, subcategories, products, and invoices, and also allows webmasters to add, remove, or edit any of the features easily. Their administration area is secured with sensitive login and from there you can create newsletters, backup your information, and send out packaging lists or invoices directly from the interface. OsCommerce also supports an address book, product reviews, shipping, and payment through multiple payment gateways like Authorize.Net and PayPal.

cubecart.JPG

CubeCart is a professionally audited shopping cart system, which offers a variety of extras along with the most common shopping cart features. It is 100% template driven, where the HTML code you create can be completely separated from the PHP code that runs the application on the server. This makes CubeCart a favorite for webmasters who want ease of use and simple maintanence. There are various layouts to choose from, XHTML and CSS are fully-functional, it supports unlimited product images, has an HTML image gallery pop-up, enables currency support for a various countries, and includes email marketing tools, multiple tax classes, and various languages, such as German, Chinese, and Slovakian. Plus a one-click installation, because Lunarpages likes to make things that easy.

zen.JPG

ZenCart’s motto of “the art of ecommerce” aptly suits them, as the software speaks for itself. Acclaimed for being newbie-friendly, many customers choose ZenCart as their option for its customization, XHTML and template systems, and of course its ease of use. Again, we offer a one-click installation through cPanel, so that makes it quicker than ever to get this fully-functional shopping cart up and running. Considered one of the most helpful systems around, ZenCart’s FAQs are one of the other many reasons customers flock to Zen. Among the other outstanding reasons to give them a try are no HTML knowledge necessary to add, delete, or edit product catalogues, security guarantee, the inclusion of an advanced template system for CSS, HTML, and image functionality, multiple pricing and payment options, product quantity limitations, one-time fee additions, sorting by any method, store layout is easily customizable, customer authorization keys, WYSIWYG page editor, and even advertising banners, which is one of their neatest features.

So Which Shopping Cart Works Best?

As always, the best way to find out which one will best suit your site and personal tates is to give each of them a shot! You can visit their websites and read up on their support, ease of use, and creative elements, because what works for one person doesn’t necessarily fit another. It’s ultimately up to you to do your homework to find out which works best for your customers and website.

© Lunarpages Web Hosting - $25 off Web Hosting! Coupon Code: blog25

Original post by Tiara

Lunar Roundup - Design Tips and Tools

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Author: Mitch Keeler

Here are some out of this world design related links that have been passed my way. I could horde them all to myself, but since I am in the holiday spirit I figured I could share them with all of you.

Free Treasures for Designers - The best icons, brushes and shapes, tutorials and books, vector and other stuff. All things a good designer needs handy.

VectorMagic - This site converts bitmap images to vector art - it’s an online auto-tracer. Just upload your image and they will vectorize it for you.

Top 10 Template Generators for Blogs and Websites - Another list of helpful template generators to get your web site designs off the ground.

The 7 CSS Hacks That We Should Use - Should be “shouldn’t have to use” in my opinion. This covers CSS tips to help you get around Internet Explorer problems.

LogoTemplater.com - They are creating free blank logos templates and free vector art images in Adobe Illustrator EPS files for free download.

If you enjoy this Lunar roundup - let me know, might have to do more in the future.

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Original post by Mitch