| Q. |
What is a content management system and why would I want one? |
| A. |
A content management system (CMS) is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating creation of web site content. A content management system is sometimes a web application used for managing websites and web content, though in many cases, content management systems require special client software for editing and constructing articles. However, in the case of Bondware, there is NO CLIENT SOFTWARE TO INSTALL. Your entire website can be created with any browser, such as Internet Explorer, and access to the internet.
Bondware's CMS (Content Management System) empowers people to take control of their websites and their association, small business or self-publication (e.g. online newspapers or online magazines). With our website building software, which is a standard feature of Bondware's content management system, you are always only one-click away from editing a page on your website. No longer do you have to call (and pay for) a web designer to manage your website's content, or to change a word or two on your site.
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| Q. |
Is your content management system a web site builder?
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| A. |
Yes, although Bondware is a full website publishing system and supports nearly unlimited content management. Strictly speaking, a web site builder is a type of content management system (CMS). Typically, web site builders focus mostly on fancy web design templates to make a few web pages look great and the web pages typically are easy to design, set up and publish to a website.
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| Q. |
How is your content management system (CMS) different from a traditional web site builder? |
| A. |
Bondware begins with the ability to build your own web site and manage the content, text and images yourself. Therefore, Bondware is a web site builder. However, Bondware's CMS goes well beyond most web site building software.
Traditional web site builder software or free web site builders often are very limited, in custom web design flexibility, web page / news article limitations and business features that your small business, association, organization and non-profit often need. In Bondware, even our cheapest hosted web site solutions offer unlimited web pages and articles. You can also implement many modules, or add-on web tools, such as e-commerce, customer service management, banner ad management, forums, online directory, rss feeds and syndication and much more. |
| Q. |
Is your CMS an Open Source Content Management System?
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| A. |
No. However, Bondware's CMS is built on an open source platform. Our web-based CMS software runs on a LAMP platform. It is a PHP Content Management System, running on Linux and MySQL with an Apache web server.
Our PHP based CMS is completed web-based, running on the internet via your web browser of choice. There is no software to install on your computer. Thus, our CMS is 100% compatible with a MAC or a PC. Although all browsers interpret web page code slightly different, we work hard to make sure our CMS works with many browers, including Internet Explorer (MAC and PC), FireFox, (MAC and PC), Netscape and AOL. We also attempt to make our web site administration system compatible with Safari, however, there are some limitations with Safari we are not able to develop around. Therefore, if you are on a MAC, it is recommended that you run Firefox for MAC on your computer when administering a Bondware CMS web site. |
| Q. |
How are custom web designs different than template web designs? |
| A. |
Web site templates are usually pre-built websites with text placeholders. You can implement these templates and change their default content or text to content appropriate for your site. Rarely do these templates offer much web design flexibility nor do they empower you to add links, add pages and essentially manage your web site once it is live and hosted.
Custom web designs can take many flavors. A good strategy for most web sites is to implement a color pallet, navigation, consistent header and footer and generally a common look and feel. With a Bondware system we help you build a custom web design / custom web site template for your web site. We can design and implement nearly anything that can be dreamed up.
Because we can design a web site so quickly and implement your custom web site template in a fraction of the time of typical custom web site designers, our web designs are very affordable and often are very cheap web designs - starting at only $800 for a full web site design and often this can be even less if you just need a custom web site header.
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| Q. |
Do I have to be in Nashville, TN to work with your "Nashville web site design team"? |
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A.
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No. Our Nashville web design team is based here in Nashville, but we design web sites for sites running outside of Nashville, TN. For example, we have designed sites for people in Atlanta, Tampa, Washington, D.C., California, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and international sites including Sri Lanka and Israel. One website we've designed has over 500,000 members and is represented in over 150 countries. |
| Q. |
Can I design my website myself or does your Nashville Web Design team need to be involved?
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| A. |
YES. We love to see other web designers get involved with Bondware's CMS and design their own web sites. Even if you are not a web designer and have NO HTML and NO Web design experience, you can still get a good looking web site designed on Bondware. We have several web design themes and templates for you to apply to your site. We also have already designed or }pre-designed" web designs available for purchase, which we call "Skins" that can be applied to your site at any time.
Some of our "skins" were designed by our Nashville web design team and other skins were developed by 3rd party web designers. These web designers then get royalties for each skin that is sold. You'll find that some skin designs are free and others may have a fee associated with them. The fees will depend on the level of effort that the web designer put into designing and developing the skin. |
| Q. |
What are some of the common features that self-publishers use Bondware |
| A. |
Bondware is an excellent choice for self-publishing. Our publishing software is based on a proven content management system, which allows for unlimited pages of content on your website. In addition to our standard CMS (content management system) features, you can add custom PHP modules into your bondware web site with little effort. These modules are add-on web tools that allow you to pay for only what you need and add lots of features.
Some common modules for publishers include: Blogging Software, RSS feed creation software (our content syndication & RSS publisher), banner ad manager (for managing your web site's advertisers, including tracking web site activity for number of impressions and clicks for each ad on your website), file library (securely and easily share large or small files or graphics), classified ad manager, advanced photo gallery, community forums and our ecommerce system for subscription and membership fees as well as to integrate with the classified ad module, community calendar, community discussion forums, photo gallery, online directory listings to help you maximize your web site's revenue potential.
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| Q. |
Do I need to know web site programming or HTML/CSS to manage my web site? |
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A.
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NO. Read more information on our content management system, but you can let our Nashville web design team build a custom and unique web design for your website or feel free to use one of our website templates, themes or skins to get you going. If you have questions about your CMS website or how to build a web site, please just give us a call and we'll walk you through it. |
| Q. |
I'm just getting started, can I afford Bondware's Content Management System?
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| A. |
Absolutely. Our unlimited page functionality is very affordable. Our content management system pricing, including web site hosting, starts for as little as $25/month. You can then add our Bondware PHP modules to your site at any time based on your needs and budget. Bondware was designed to be feature rich, but also be ideal for small business owners, non-profits and associations. Our website software and hosting fees are extremely low, especially when comparing features to other content management systems. |
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