Web Development Platform


Overview

Over the past ten years, we have had the opportunity to develop many different kinds of sites. As we worked on these various projects, we noticed that about 80%-90% of the functionality was essentially the same from site to site. Upon making this discovery, we started to collect code into five general purpose modules. These modules make up our web development platform and can be matched up in different configurations and customized as needed.

Following are some of the overall features of the platform, as well as some highlights of each module:
  • All modules are integrated - so information can be shared between them
  • Users of varying skill can be productive and successful
  • URLs, Content, and HTML Templates are separated to maximize flexibility
  • Can support HTML, XML and Flash delivery
  • FTP-based updating is a familiar working environment for many users
  • Fully customizable and extensible using Perl, Javascript and AJAX

Modules

Content Management
  • Easy to use editing interface
  • HTML template-based design management
  • Customizable database tables
  • Support for all types of content
  • Related content (manual or dynamic)
  • Related media (such as slide shows or photo galleries)
  • “User Contributed Content”
  • Supports local and network based caching
  • Fully extensible and customizable
User Management
  • Customizable user database table
  • Enables functionality in other modules
  • Supports user logins for the web site
  • Supports verifiable opt in for Email Broadcasts
  • Supports multiple addresses and order history for Ecommerce
  • User fields integrate with Survey and Forms system
  • Manage large amounts of data with saved searches and groups
  • Complete user history (browsing, purchases, surveys, email activity, favorites, and user contributions)
  • CSV based importing and exporting
  • Duplicate email management
Email Broadcast
  • Supports emailing to any number of users
  • Emails both text and HTML messages
  • Customize messages using User DB
  • Content can be reused repeatedly
  • Complete reporting and link activity tracking
  • Drill down feature in reporting gets you to specific users activity
  • Exporting at all levels of reporting
  • White lists and feedback loops set up with all major ISP’s
Ecommerce
  • Full featured shopping cart
  • Supports Categories, Products, Attributes and Options
  • Complete after-order editing by the administrator
  • Full featured inventory tracking
  • Extensive discounting engine
  • Supports all major shipping carriers
  • Supports a variety of tax structures
  • Integrates with all credit card gateways and processors
  • Supports Returns and Exchanges
  • Supports Manufacturer Orders
  • Includes a variety of built in reports, including COGS, Manufacture and Attribute/Option sales reports
  • Fully customizable and extensible
Surveys and Forms
  • Supports surveys, polls, quizzes and sweepstakes
  • Date based entry controls
  • Entry limits (IE, once per email)
  • Supports all types of questions - including matrix questions
  • Robust reporting provides real time calculations
  • Filtering allows for cross tabulation
  • Export totals and respondent data
  • Can be used for any form on a web site - as all data is stored in the database
  • Supports extension through custom post-processing activities

Customization

We have defined several different methods of customizing our platform. These break down into three major areas - Tags, Actions, and Administration. The Tags method allow for extension of the templates, when different subsets of data or specialized queries are needed. Actions are primarily used to affect the operation of forms, but we have used them in a number of different applications. Finally, the Administration method is designed to extend the back end interface, which is especially useful when there are special functionality needs by the site administrators.

All the work is performed in dedicated files on the server using the Perl programming language and the system’s Application Programming Interface (API). This is a rapid development environment, and is similar to that seen when editing HTML files. Through these mechanisms, anything that can be coded can be available to the web site.

Hosted Model

In order to maintain the highest level of convenience for our clients, we provide our development platform as a hosted product. Not only does this make deployment of web sites fast and easy, it also ensures that our clients are always using the latest versions of the software. This keeps the startup costs low, as there is nothing that needs to be installed or maintained over time.

The monthly reoccurring costs of the platform are broken out into three areas: Modules, Overages, and where needed, Caching. Each of the five modules have their own monthly costs, so you only pay for the ones you use. Some of our modules have ‘lite’ versions that are used in special situations. Overages are designed to accommodate the extra expense of serving large sites or sending very large email broadcasts, but our base limits are adequate for the average web site. Finally, for high volume sites, we employ a caching network that carries with it an additional cost, but the pricing is scaled the same as our regular bandwidth overage cost.

More about our hosting costs can be found in the pricing section as well as here: http://www.richard-group.com/pricing/