You can tell the difference between a “cookie cutter” site style and one that was custom created specifically with the client’s needs in mind. When creating a custom site style for our customers, our focus is:

• KISS — Keep It Streamlined Sweetheart
• Home Page Advantage — provide sensible navigational elements and hyperlinks that make it easy to “lead” your visitors along a well thought out marketing strategy
• prioritize what information is important to you when displaying your message(s) to your visitors
• apply elements to your site style that visually tell visitors what you do
• apply colors to your site style that portray an appropriate feel for your business

The ZD-CMS™ makes it easy to integrate site styles with navigation and content, so we can get your custom site up and running quickly. Best of all it will look GREAT!

When you are editing a web page, you can create a link to a document very easily. 

STEP ONE: Use your cursor to highlight the text you wish to change from regular text to a hyperlink to link to a document for visitors to view and download.

STEP TWO: Click on the "insert/edit link" icon. 

STEP THREE: Although it will open the Link Info tab first, click on the Upload Tab and browse your computer for the document to attach to the module record. Select your file and click on Open (in Windows). The path to the file will now show in the Upload field.

 

STEP FOUR: Click on the 'Send it to the Server' button.

• This will pop up a message that reads, "Your file has been successfully uploaded".
   
• Click on the 'OK' button to save and return to the edit screen, where you will see the link to the document.

That's it! Click on the Submit button, and your website has been changed! Wasn't that easy?

If you can use a word processor, you can edit your web content. All you have to do is log into your website manager. The pages you have permission to change are clearly visible. Select the one you want to change and copy text in, delete text, add text. Click the Submit button and you are done!

You can select and add formatting to text by clicking on the same sort of buttons you have in a word processor. Our Rich Text Area looks like this:

You can choose formats and styles, use bold, italic and strikethrough, subsripts and superscripts. You can select text and bacground colors for text. Upload documents, link to other websites. Make bullets and numbered lists! Indent, align left, center, or right, select all, remove formatting, add pictures, tables, lines, and characters. Cut, copy, paste. Undo , redo, find, and replace.

While it looks very familiar, it is always important to remember you are working inside a website and it is very different from working inside a Word Processing program. All the text you enter will also be formatted in the website according to the site style created by your designer.

With ZD-CMS™, you can update the content of your website whenever YOU want to instead of waiting (and paying) for someone else to do the job! You will be given a login name and password to access your website's website manager. Select the page you wish to edit and start editing!

The Designer Platform is a custom web service offering tools and web applications focused on the ZD-CMS™. This content management system gives website designers the power to integrate their website style designs, preferably programmed in table-less XHTML/CSS, with the Website Pages Solution and a variety of Modules to deliver content efficiently and in an esthetically pleasing manner.

What is the Zee Designs Developers Program?

Major software executives have suggested that someday all software will be delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS). As the technology delivery model evolves, it is critical for developers of all types to evaluate SaaS as an option. Zee Designs offers Web content management and related services as a SaaS, and our Developers Program has been created to enable our partner Web agencies, ad agencies and system integrators to implement ZD-CMS™ for their clients.

Unlike most software services, the ZD-CMS™ product is full featured, fully customizable, and easy for developers to work with. It’s straightforward for developers to learn how to implement the system. In fact, we provide free training, free developer support, and a complete set of developer reference documents and “how-to” documents.

Our Developers benefit by capturing services revenue from implementing and customizing the ZD-CMS™. They capture services revenue from integrating content management with other tools such as analytics, email campaign management, e-commerce, ZD-eNews™, and other features. Developers work with their customers to get the content uploadeded, which is often a large project in itself, training the end-users, and project managing the work. Developers also do their traditional work on the site, of course, including design, information architecture, strategy consulting, and custom application development. And finally, any Developer can choose to sell a support agreement to the customer, to provide ongoing services and support for the technology infrastructure.

The advantages for our Developers are many:

• Provide your customers with a world-class, highly reliable platform from the market leader
• No software to purchase, write, or support
• In the unlikely event the system goes down, we get the call at 3:00 AM, not you
• All infrastructure is provided – hardware, network, power, rackspace, supporting hardware
• All management and maintenance is provided – backups, disaster recovery, security management, 24/7 monitoring and response, guaranteed performance and uptime, and so on.
• Integrated offerings are available in related areas – search, email, ZD-eNews™, analytics, CRM, Web hosting
• Simple contracting process – customer simply fills out an online form, and off you go

Contact us for more information about how you can benefit by joining our Developers Program.

Module name: advertisers_simple
Default instance name: Advertisers

Example(s):

• http://ww.nvwea.org/html/advertisers.phtml

Description:
Used to present a list of advertisers or vendors or similar which includes an extensive list of contact information including hours, additional locations, directions, keywords which react to a module-specific search and an image of a print ad may be uploaded with each record.
 

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Module name: advertisers_extreme
Default instance name: Advertisers

Example(s): There are no live website examples at this time.

Description:
Used to present a list of advertisers or vendors or similar which includes an extensive list of contact information including hours, additional locations, directions, keywords which react to a module-specific search, contact person whose information may be displayed on the website or not, and an image of a print ad may be uploaded with each record. Records can be organized by category and can be cross-referenced between categories in the Extreme version of this module.

Module name: articles
Default instance name: Articles

Example(s):

• http://www.usn.edu/media-info-center
• http://www.usn.edu/pharmacy/curriculum
• http://addictionhelp.com/articles-of-interest
• http://teamsters995.com/benefits
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/in-places

Description:
The Articles Module is perfect for organizing a large amount of documents of a particular topic by categories and multiple levels of subcategories. Published news articles, magazine articles, benefits packages, information centers, curriculums, frequently asked questions, product documents, event marketing and presentation, services are just some of the topics this module is already being utilized for.

Module name: bibliography
Default instance name: Bibliography

Example(s):

• http://addictionhelp.com/books-to-read
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/bibliography

Description:
A bibliography is an extensive list of sources you have consulted as you worked on or thought about your document or topic of practice or interest. In addition to identifying the sources you may have cited in your document, it represents the research you've done in preparation for writing, or within your topic of choice, and it offers your audience suggestions for further reading on your topic. The Bibliography Module provides a way to present these sources in a searchable list which can be organize by categories and multiple levels of subcategories.

Module name: calendar
Default instance name: Calendar

Example(s):

• http://www.andrelv.com/original/events (category-specific)
• http://www.andrelv.com/montecarlo/events (category-specific)
• http://www.andrelv.com/alize/events (category-specific)
   
• http://www.usn.edu/events-calendar (master calendar)
• http://www.usn.edu/pharmacy/ (category-specific)
• http://www.usn.edu/mba/ (category-specific)
• http://www.usn.edu/nursing/ (category-specific)
• http://www.usn.edu/dental/dental-medicine/ (category-specific)
   
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/events-calendar (search by region)
• http://teamsters14.com/calendar/

Description:
The calendar module is quite in depth with the option to schedule recurring events, view by periods of time and even by categories so that you can feature a master calendar and then on individual website pages display just those events associated with a single category. It offers user permissions for individual categories. Information can include text, images, attachments and events stay in the module until you delete them. Display of data may include a dynamic thumbnail calendar with a hover popup info feature for event title, location and time; great for the home page.

We are in development with a new option to generate a PDF file of calendar contents; see http://nevadadbe.com/dbe-vendors and scroll to the bottom of the page to see how this is working for their list of DBE Vendors.

We also design, develop and produce custom, client-specific modules and web applications. Some of these interact with the client's website and some are intranet only assisting the client to manage their business-related data.

What's in it for us? The joy of hearing the client exclaim, "You've made my job so much easier! I used to have to do this all by hand! Now I have answers to queries I couldn't do with my Excel spreadsheet."

Some of these solutions include:

• Shareholders:  built for a company that is funded by private investments, this web application . . .
  • Tracks all shareholder information including investments; designations; account changes; log-in data for the secure, investor-specific website; and who the account was originated by.
  • Option Document management including create, edit verbiage and convert.
  • Certificate management including create, reallocate, forward splits, and printing of.
  • Reports including Certificates by Shareholder, IRA Investments, Notify by Email, Originated By, Shares by Share Price, Shareholder Investments, and Verified Documents.
  • Voting Online Feature
     
• Bidding Opportunites:  built for a client who manages a group of contractors who can post bidding opportunities which can be viewed on the client's website. Additionally, the opportunities are automatically emailed to the client's interested vendors.
   
• Vendors:  built for two clients who manage a specific group of members.
   
• Trainings:  built for a client who is a Canine Coach and teaches agility, behavior and obedience. This web application . . .
  • Offers a secure, online registration service for students who then
    • Sign up for a dog-training class
    • Sign up for AKC CGC® Certification Testing
    • View my dog-training class schedule
    • View my account details
    • View dog, Add a dog
  • Provides a way for the client to
    • View & Manage Class Signups
    • Create & Manage Class Schedules
       
• WWLL:  The World-Wide Labyrinth Locator has been designed to be an easy-to-use database of labyrinths around the world. This web application allows the public to submit their data which the admin then can validate, categorize, edit and manage almost 40 elements of related data. The related website offers advanced search features and a beautiful, printable display of search results data.

Module name: doc_img_request
Default instance name: Document & Image Request

Example(s):   

• http://andrelv.com/corporate/press-kit

Description:
This module allows a website client to manage document and image requests from their customers. Customers may consist of advertisers, news journalists, public relations personnel, etc. who wish to download print-quality images or documents related to the website client's specific business.

A gallery is populated by either the client or an administrator of their choice with images and documents with descriptions. For images, this module automatically calculates and displays the mechanical specifications of the image so the customer may choose the appropriate size and quality they need for their specific project.

This module can be customized to only images, only documents or a hybrid of the two.

Website clients or designated administrators manage customer access, approval of requests and has complete control over add/edit/delete options for any request. Settings are available for determining how long a request is available for download. Automatically generated email notices are in place for:

• notifying the customer when an account has been created and where to log in to make their request order
• notifying the client when a request has been submitted
• notifying the customer when their request has been approved and how to download their order

When a request has not been retrieved by the customer within the allotted time, they can notify the client of this and the client can re-activate the request.

The Document & Image Request Module was modeled after the Gallery Module.  As such, all documentation related to the Gallery Module is also valid for the Document & Image Request Module. Therefore, the topics of adding/editing Categories and Images will not be covered again here.

Module name: announcements
default instance name: Email Announcements

Example(s):

Description:
This module provides a powerful way to organize large amounts of mailing and contact data so that clients may correspond with all or groups of their subscribers. It can be integrated with a website to invite website visitors to “join” a mailing list. Join form can be simple such as first name, last name, email address or more complete including full traditional mail and contact information. Additional mailing lists can be imported into the system. Subscribers can be organized by category and most features are similar to typical email programs.

OPTION: ZD-eNews™ Feature

Example(s):   

• http://andrelv.com/corporate/join-our-mailing-list
• http://labyrinthsociety.org/enews-archive

Description:
Customers can enjoy having custom eNews templates designed with their brand-able artwork, giving their email messages a cohesive look with the rest of their print and online media. The Template Wizard walks the user through simplified steps of stylizing their eNews blast. Blasts can be previewed, saved as drafts and sent to the entire mailing list or selected groups of subscribers. One-on-one, personal training is provided to get you comfortable and sending that first email blast out with a smile on your face!

ZD-eNews™ - Data Transfer & Bandwidth Monthly Usage Fee

• Send unlimited emails to your list — monthly fee based on number of addresses on your list
• Unlimited free phone, email and Help Index support, one-on-one training fees are additional
• Additional eNews templates start at just $150 each. Order more than one and get a better rate!

Module name: gallery
Default instance name: Gallery

Example(s):

• http://accentawningsnv.com/products
• http://teamsters995.com/event-gallery 
• http://ralphstoybox.com/ralphs-friends
• http://inspiredbyglass.com/gallery
• http://daneemersonhouse.com
• http://daneemersonhouse.com/common-areas

Description:
The Gallery Module is ideal for organizing a collection of images and/or photos. It can also be used as an online catalog or story board. Use your imagination for the number of ways this versatile module can be used.

• A Gallery can be organized single level or by category and subcategories each with their own description and sort option.
• Each image record includes several fields for details.
• There are several style templates designed by the web author related to this module such as navigation lists, manual slide show, automated slide show and original image views.

Module name: glossary
Default instance name: Glossary

Example(s):

• http://addictionhelp.com/glossary
• http://teamsters995.com/glossary
• http://teamsters14.com/union-terminology

Description:
The Glossary Module is used to display a collection of textual specialized terms with their meanings.

Module name: links
Default instance name: Links

Example(s):

• http://addictionhelp.com/useful-links
• http://www.usn.edu/informative-links
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/labyrinth-links

Whether for hyperlinks to other websites, documents or even affiliations, the Links Module is perfect for organizing from small to large lists of hyperlink resources which may be organized in a single list or in categories.

Module name: news
Default instance name: News

News Module Overview
This is one of the most flexible modules; think lists of related documents. Our clients have used this for announcements, awards, downloadable documents, case histories, newsletters, list of classes, credentials, frequently asked questions, typology, lessons, manuals, meeting minutes, our process, press center, product details, recipes, seasonal tips, spotlight, student brags, surveys, testimonials, training opportunities, what's new, writing contest . . . to name a few.

News Module for News & Announcements

Example(s):    

• http://andrelv.com/original/news

Whether for company news, event announcements, press releases or the like, this module offers a list and “read more” options. Records can be shared with more than one category; i.e. University news with subcategories of College news wherein the website can display a “master” news listing as well as by-category listings. News items have expiration dates and can include images, attachments, categories, subcategories and an archive.

News Module for FAQ Features

Example(s):    

• http://teamsters14.com/faqs

Easily manages both questions and answers by showing a list of questions on the web page then opening the answer up under the question when clicked. This sleek presentation helps your website be clean and simple as well as saves the user from bobbing up and down the page or being forced to read answers they do not wish to read.

News Module for Testimonials

Example(s):    

• http://agility4u.com/html/testimonials.phtml
• http://andrelv.com/original/testimonials

Share with your website visitors what others have to say about you. For an added touch, PDF the original document whether a letter, email, news article, etc. and create a hyperlink to attach to it to show authenticity of the testimonial.

Module name: personnel2
Default instance name: Personnel

Example(s):

• http://teamsters14.com/our-staff
• http://nevadadbe.com/our-staff
• http://teamsters995.com/business-agents
• http://www.usn.edu/administration
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/who-we-are

Description:
Fields include prefix, first name, last name, suffix, title1, title2, phone, fax, email, url, intro text, image and body for a biography or profile of the individual. This module offers categories for those companies and organizations that may have groups of personnel which can then be displayed on a single website page or multiple website pages.

Module name: search
Default instance name: search

Example(s):   

• http://www.usn.edu/
• http://www.teamsters14.com/
• http://www.teamsters995.com/

Description:
Gives website visitors an option to search all content related to the website.

Module name: website
Default instance name: Website Pages

Example(s):   

• http://www.accentawningsnv.com 
• http://www.andrelv.com
• http://www.addictionhelp.com     
• http://www.daneemersonhouse.com
• http://www.gjlv.com 
• http://groundsinspector.com/
• http://www.inspiredbyglass.com
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org
• http://www.nevadadbe.com 
• http://www.smartypaws.com
• http://www.teamsters14.com 
• http://www.teamsters995.com 
• http://www.ralphstoybox.com 
• http://www.vatb.com
• http://www.usn.edu
• http://wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org 

Description:

The Website Pages Module is more than just a module. It's actually a Website Application that allows web authors to create an entire site that is managed by the ZD-CMS™ and in which clients can manage the content on all pages of their website. These pages may still include additional modules (embedded modules), embedded applications, external applications, feedback forms, or simply be a category for a list of sub-pages or a link to another website page whether internal or external.

It offers full control of site-wide and page-specific meta data; a wide variety of settings including author and copyright notices; user permissions for individual pages, modules and forms; page labels for identifying page states; and powerful modules that sweep the website content then creates website pages for an A to Z Directory, Downloads and External Resource (Site Resources Bundle).

It helps Designers create editable navigation, multiple areas of content and add features such as a primary image, copyright notice for which the date automatically updates each year, search feature, breadcrumb navigation and more.

 

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Site Resources Bundle

The Site Resources Bundle an amazing feature of the Website Pages Module that continually scans all content of your website, locates all hyperlinks then places them in a convenient lists in the form of an A to Z Directory, Downloads and External Links.

A to Z Directory Example(s):

• http://www.usn.edu/a-to-z-directory
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/a-to-z
• http://teamsters14.com/a-to-z-directory

Downloadable Documents Example(s):

• http://www.usn.edu/downloads
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/downloads

External Links Example(s):

• http://www.usn.edu/external-resources
• http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/external-links

The ZD-CMS™ Feedback Form Creator is a way to build dynamic forms that collect information from a visitor. A copy of data gets emailed to the client and a copy is retained in their WM.

Features include:

• show printable: when the visitor submits the form it shows a printable version
   
• email recipient: options for
  • yes - send a copy which sends all completed data from the website visitor to the client’s recipient
  • yes - send a link which sends an email with only a link to the feedback inside the Website Manager. This is particularly important for forms which may contain sensitive data.
  • no – an email is not sent
     
• reply to sender: options for
  • yes – person that submitted the form will receive a courtesy reply
  • no – This is important for clients of a professional nature, such as doctors, where confidentiality is regulated by law and patients prefer to share their information only with the client.
     
• email spacing: single or double for printing and readability preferences
   
• courtesy reply & notice: When the website visitor submits the form, they will receive the custom notice on a website page and they will receive a courtesy reply by email to confirm their information has been received.
   
• recipient-only footer:  An excellent example of this is when a client wishes to have a form which is sent to someone other than themselves. In this case, the recipient-only footer might read, “P.S. This website visitor was referred to you by Company Name at [website url].

We specialize in creating websites in which our clients can manage their own content. We have spent years creating our own Content Management Systems (CMS)*.

• EDU-CMS™ - a system for educational institutions based on ZD-CMS™
• ZD-CMS™

This system allows us to create a Website Manager for each client then enable and customize instances of common modules. It helps us create economic, dynamic, database-driven websites for clients who couldn't dream of affording this type of luxury before. Some of these modules include:

• Advertisers
• Advertisers Extreme
• Articles
• Bibliography
• Calendar
• Document & Image Requests
• Email Announcements with ZD-eNews™
• Gallery: photos, portfolio, testimonials, events, products and more
• Glossary
• Links: documents, favorites, resources, etc.
• News
• OSC Order Admin
• Personnel
• Site-Wide Search
• Secure Online Orders
• Website Pages
• We also create spectacular Dynamic Feedback Forms

How easy is it to interact with? Can you do email, fill in a form, know how to use an internet browser? Then you will find it comfortable to use our CMS.

*The ZD-CMS™ is server specific. All of our clients who use this system also have website hosting services with us.

The EDU-CMS™ is a customization of the ZD-CMS™ particular to Colleges and Universities with a Community of administrators, faculty, staff, students, and preceptors focused on the experiential training of their students. It enables Users of the system do the same content management as in the ZD-CMS™ plus manage experiential training-specific documents including, but not limited to, assessment forms, absent requests, affiliate agreements, enrollment documents, transcripts, and activity relationships including but not limited to preceptor availabilities, student rotations, and community reminders. All terms and specifications apply equally to the ZD-CMS™ and the EDU-CMS™.

The ZD-CMS™ is a multi-million dollar plus (and growing) server-dependent, software solution that is continually developed on a daily basis by Interactive Director Zee Marie along with Zee Designs’ talented Artistic Code Engineers. Current customers using the ZD-CMS™ consider it invaluable because it can be customized to their specific needs.

The ZD-CMS™ is developed with common, well-known coding languages. It is a system built on a modular schematic so that it is always current, timely, easily expands per our clients’ requests and offers each customer a website-specific Website Manager to maintain their site(s) with ease.

Here's a rundown of some of the some different technologies of the ZD-CMS™:

• Made for UNIX-derivative systems (Linux, BSD)
• MySQL databases (could work with other types)
• PHP code (version 5 mostly) provides scripting for dynamic websites
• The interface makes use of CSS, JavaScript, and modern techniques such as AJAX and DOM manipulation.
• Subversion and Git for version control and a custom solution for multi-server deployment.

 

TECHNOLOGY

The ZD-CMS™ framework is built for Unix-derivative systems such as Linux and FreeBSD. It makes use of the following technologies:

• Apache for serving resources. Apache is the most-used web server software and powers almost half of the entire web [1].
   
• PHP for server-side processing. PHP is a popular and proven technology for powering web sites. It powers the websites of Yahoo, Wikipedia, Facebook, Flickr, and many others[1]. It is the most-used Apache module [2]. In the right hands, PHP is secure, performant, and maintainable.
   
• Like every programming language, PHP has shortcomings and trade-offs that must be considered. Its syntax, compared with other modern languages such as Python, can appear complicated. Many online resources such as code libraries and APIs were put together by non- experts, so one needs to be discerning about third-party components.
   
• At Zee Designs, we adhere to high standards of code creation and always take security, performance, and maintainability into account.
   
• MySQL is used for storing data. MySQL is fast, reliable, and widely- used. Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP are often used in conjunction and work well together. The acronym LAMP is used to describe this powerful combination of software.
   
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for frontend interfaces. We follow standards closely to reap the benefits of accessibility, efficient delivery, search-engine friendliness, and many others. Our HTML and CSS code is semantic and clean while our JavaScript uses progressive enhancement[4] to ensure that all visitors can use our sites effectively. Usability principles are followed for an easy, smooth user experience.
   

SECURITY

Security is a paramount concern for us. We stay up-to-date on vulnerabilities and industry-standard practices for keeping our clients and users safe. We guard against attacks such as SQL injections, XSS, and CSRF, among others.

Whenever sensitive data needs to be stored, we use powerful encryption to protect it. We are experienced in using both symmetric and asymmetric (public/private key) encryption[5]. We always use SSL or SSH to protect sensitive communication.

Following are some helpful resources:

[1] September 2008 Web Server Survey by Netcraft
[2] PHP Usage information at Wikipedia
[3] PHP Usage Stats for April 2007
[4] Progressive Enhancement information at Wikipedia
[5] Description of Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption from Microsoft® Help & Support

Because Zee Design's solution is a software service, there is no hardware to buy or software to install. The solution offers rapid development capabilities and a full scripting-based API to enable our partners to roll-out and manage customized solutions for their customers. The interface is simple enough for non-technical business users, yet powerful enough for high-end administrators. One can think of Zee Designs CMS as a web publishing system.

User access is done through a Web browser, making it easy for companies with remote users to manage multiple Web sites with a single solution.

Site configuration is easy to set up because of its developer-friendly interface. Modules make it easy to install complex functionality. Add CSS for the site styles, artwork, and content, and a website is born. It is simple for end-users to update content because the formatting looks like their favorite word processing programs.