Valente Online values the immense worth that open source software and systems offer the Internet’s end users, we also realise the great power and potential that these technologies hold. Hence all our web development makes exclusive use of award winning open source platforms and systems, thus allowing us to provide our end users with a compelling product that is both robust yet incredibly intuitive.

The main open source technologies we employ;

PHP: Is the default scripting format that is behind the majority of todays dynamic web applications. PHP is a powerful server side programming language, and possibly the most flexible language for any online web application. PHP is an acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor and is an integral part of the Linux, Apache server set up.

MySQL: the mysql database server system is without a doubt the industry leader when it comes to data storage solutions. It is an efficient, fast and robust enterprise class database storage platform which is widely used in conjunction with most of today’s interactive web applications. The MySQL server system is an incredibly secure database system which affords it’s end users the ease of access and comfort of privacy.

Apache: The driver of the Linux server, and responsible for the key role in the initial growth of the internet, further more it was the first server platform to surpass the 100 million website milestone. The Apache server supports a wide array of useful features, such as web file serving, file sharing, internet communications, and DNS management. The Apache server is a delightfully stable yet high performance server which flawlessly enables a smooth client/server interaction.

Linux: Is a Unix like computer operating system, founded and developed on the principles of the GNU and the open source software movement. Linux remains the world wide leading server operating system due to its formidable security features and its efficient operational properties. Originally developed by Linus Torvalds, Linux has grown into widely adopted server operating system.

Valente Online  was established and is run using open source software exclusively. We strongly  believe in the potential of open source technology and systems. It was therefore only natural to release the Valente Online CMS-Maestro under the GPLv3 open source license, in the hopes that our contribution to the open source collective will be useful in promoting the utilization and adoption of open source software as main stream.

The CMS-Maestro is built with extensibility in mind and is designed in a modular fashion, therefore additional features and functionality can be added easily to the Maestro.

Core components included in the Valente Online CMS – Maestro

• Pages: general page creation and management
• Articles: best suited for news or blog posts
• Forms: easily build contact or application forms for your users
• Categories: sort and organize your content
• Widgets: add additional dynamic blocks such as page lists
• Menus: easily manage your website’s main menu
• Media: effortlessly add and manage various media on your site

Other features the CMS – Maestro includes

• convenient Google Analytics integration through the admin dashboard
• WYSIWYG content editor (tinyMCE)
• clean url support
• 100% theme-able with php templates
• Component support to extend the Maestro
• Automatic content url aliasing
• Automatic description and keyword meta tag generator for search engine indexing
• Multiple administrator accounts
• Custom administrator permission settings

The CMS – Maestro enjoys a rapid development cycle, and new versions are released often, as we have faith in the system and use it for many of our own projects. Feel free to download the system and enjoy!

]]> http://valenteonline.com/valente-online-proudly-anounces-the-launch-of-the-cms-meastro.html/feed 3 http://valenteonline.com/add-custom-content-types-in-wordpress-3.html http://valenteonline.com/add-custom-content-types-in-wordpress-3.html#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:16:05 +0000 Marco http://valenteonline.com/?p=1413 With the new WordPress 3 release, it is now possible to add custom content types, which is very useful feature for more complex websites that have various forms of content. Creating a custom content type for your WordPress installation requires some file modification of your WordPress theme, which possibly isn’t suitable for a novice as if done incorrectly it could cause all forms of strange errors.

Guide to creating custom content for your WordPress installation:

To create a custom content type we will have to edit the function.php file that belongs to your theme (hence this feature is theme dependant).

• Open the functions.php file in your favourite text editor (note a word processor like OpenOffice.org or MS Word will be no good, as you need to edit the code in pure text format)
• Depending on your theme set up, there will most probably be a few functions already present in you functions.php file, namely the dynamic sidebar functions which enable you to add widgets to your sidebars.
• Add the following function at the end of the functions.php file (but not after the php closing tag ‘?>’) substituting the content type values with your own, eg instead of the content type “crafts” as illustrated bellow you could create a content type called “latest projects”

add_action(‘init’, ‘mycustomcontent_init’);     //enable custom content types

function mycustomcontent_init()
{
// create content type Crafts
$args = array(
‘label’ => __(‘Crafts’),      //content type name to be displayed in the wordpress dashboard
‘singular_label’ => __(‘Crafts’),      //content type name to be displayed in the wordpress dashboard
‘public’ => true,
‘show_ui’ => true,      // show the user interface for this content type? true=yes false=no
‘_builtin’ => false,      //declartion to the system that it’s a custom content type and not a built in content type
‘_edit_link’ => ‘post.php?post=%d’,
‘capability_type’ => ‘post’,     //set the content type features, here we setting it to the features of a standard post
‘hierarchical’ => false,
‘rewrite’ => array(“slug” => “crafts”),     //prefix to the url alias for this content type, eg: mysite.org/crafts/model-ships
‘supports’ => array(‘title’, ‘editor’, ‘thumbnail’)
);

register_post_type( ‘crafts’ , $args );
}

• Save the functions.php file and upload it to your server, the new content type should now appear in your WordPress dashboard, as illustrated bellow

Note: For those who use the “all-in-one-SEO-pack” plugin for WordPress, the advances meta fields are unavailable to custom content types, although the developers of this plugin are surely grinding a way at an update to correct this.

WordPress 3 is the thirteenth major release of WordPress, which includes a host of new features and bug fixes, along with a brand new theme titled Twnety Ten.

The most notable features in WordPress 3 is the merger of WordPress MU and the standard WordPress package. WordPress MU was a version of WordPress which had multi site support. Both application have now been merged into one. Custom content types is also now supported, though one would have to roll up their sleeves and code some extra lines of php into their WordPress theme function file to activate this feature.

Though WordPress was traditionally aimed at blogging, it is now growing up into a fully fledged and flexible content management system. According to the developers of WordPress, they would be paying greater attention to other parts of WordPress such as enhancing it’s plugin system to allow even further extensibility and flexibility.

Click here to visit the official WordPress website

HTML5 is the latest html specification, set up by the internet standards authorities, and has been unleashed on to the internet. HTML5 is a new version of the HTML specification that brings along with it some grand features, such as video and other multimedia display. HTML5 allows developers to design and create media rich internet internet interfaces with minimal need for third party plugins. The ability to view HTML5 content depends on your browser, most modern browser’s support the majority of HTML5′s features (besides Microsoft Internet Explorer, as it seems for some odd reason be lagging behind)

HTML5 Charts

HTML5 Feature Infographic, Browser Support Chart (click image to zoom)

Credits: HTML5 Feature Infographic @focus.com, Browser Support Chart @html5readiness.com