A client tipped me off to this SEO and templating framework and I have had a brief play with it. Basically, it installs as a theme, and then gives you a massive amount of control over your layout by clicking buttons instead of programming it. This means quick theming, and that people who don’t code CSS can theme their own blogs. Nice.
See more at: http://diythemes.com/
A new Zen Cart ecommerce site by FCS Websites launched this week for Zaanti complimentary therapies, Nottingham. Zaanti stores offers organic Aloe Vera products, cosmetics, unique hand crafted gifts, jewellery, books, vintage items and collectables so go have a look!
On a tech note, we completely reskinned the admin system for this project and then released that as a free addon for the Zen Cart community 
Another new site launch for FCS Websites – logo and website design for local highway consultancy 278 Consulting. See more at their website – Highway design, planning & management
I have just got into Skype for free calls with freelancers and clients, but shouting at my iMac didn’t seem that intuitive. I was looking at portable handsets for Skype, but that would mean having three phones – landline, Skype phone and mobile. Too many phones.
So after a bit of rummaging, I discovered that there are a couple of apps for the Nokia 5800 Symbian OS that will log in to Skype and use my local wireless network instead of the data network on my mobile. Sorted!
The two apps are called Fring and Nimbuzz – they both do pretty much the same thing, so take your pick. I have not tried the video calls yet, but my internet connection is so crap they probably won’t be realtime anyway.
I saw Trading Eye quite a while ago but did not have time to have a good play with it. Now I have, so downloaded the trial localhost version and got busy.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a geek/nerd/whatever but installation was not easy. It needed a PHP loader module adding to my local MAMP setup before it would even let me do anything. Then it wouldn’t accept the license file, and I think it was because I used the wrong program to extract the files from the downloaded installer zip. Not very smooth.
However, with the help of the Trading Eye forums and a large dose of stubbornness I got it installed and working. The admin system is gorgeous yet simple and has all the functionality I or my clients will need for running a small shop.
I am hoping that an upcoming project has the budget to use Trading Eye as I would like to offer this as standard due to its accessibility and standards compliance straight out of the box.
More to follow when I have had a good look…
Nick
