350pages Blog

Free Format

2008-09-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

350pages already offers you unprecedented levels of freedom over the web creation process with our floating objects drag and drop interface, and it is with great pleasure that we've now introduced our Free Format templates - clear, open styles where you can start building your website from scratch, with just a simple heading and a blank space.

Choose your template, click on the + icon to add customisable objects onto the page and then drag and drop them where you like. It's that simple! Remember that this feature is only available to Standard subscription users.

Zirconia

2008-08-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Despite the weather, summer is the perfect time for a white wedding, and more and more happy couples choose to express their love on the web with sites dedicated to the big day popping up all over the world. Now we've made it easy for the non-technical to do that to, with our new Zirconia template - orientated towards weddings from the word go.

Sporting a two tone white and blue colour scheme, Zirconia's layouts are engineered for support of high quality images and galleries so that anything captured on celluoid can be shown off in high resolution with very little effort here. There's plenty of room for text too, so describing the moment in the church, or how drunk the uncle got is as simple as tapping out the story on your keyboard into any of the numerous text boxes.

Of course with all 350pages templates, it can be used for anything so if you like the look of the template, all the placeholder images and colour scheme can be replaced and adjusted as you see fit. You can use this template today on 350pages Standard.

Layers on Floating Objects

2008-08-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

One of the most requested features has now been added to 350pages - the ability to change the order of floating objects on your page by layers. From today, whenever you hover over a floating object the traditional alignment options will be replaced with the new layering options where you will be able to push or pull an object back and forward through the order.

You can adjust how deep the object is with the layers tool. Hover over the object and to the right of the editing options you will see the layering options. You can take the objects back and forward layer by layer, or push them all the way to the back or the front with just one click. It's the perfect solution for balancing your pages!

Remember, this feature is only available with the Standard account.

Button Bar

2008-08-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Our latest rollout sees a huge addition to our button bars - you can now drop them into your page, float them and even change the orientation! The Button Bar Editor allows you to name and link all of your buttons on your page from one convenient place. It is simple, quick and flexible, allowing you to set up your links with great ease. For ease and speed, we suggest that you create all your pages first before linking them.

You can choose the orientation of the button bar by clicking either the horizontal or vertical radio button in the editor - this will change the order of the buttons to be either vertically orientated, or horizontally orientated. To add a floating button bar, simply click on the insert button from the Page Properties bar.

Search Engine Submission

2008-07-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

Now that you have created your website using 350pages you will want people to come along and view it. 85% of all Internet surfers use search engines to find what they're looking for.

The next step is to submit your pages to the search engines. Search engine submission is the most basic part of any Internet marketing plan. Without proper search engine submission most search engines will not list your website. So we have teamed up with BuildTraffic who offer a complete set of over 20 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools that enables you to understand and manage the entire search engine marketing process, so you can achieve top rankings for your website.

When you publish any page, you'll get the option to visit Buildtraffic's website to learn more about their products - simply click on the link and the opportunity of promoting your site will be right there for you.

Vertical Stretch

2008-07-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

We have just finished adding vertical stretch to all of our templates. You will now find that when you use a floating object and move it to the bottom of the page, the layout will automatically extend to give your desired position for the content on the page. This is especially useful on templates such as Jade where you don't have to cram in your images and paragraphs at the footer - the page will simply extend to cover them all.

All of this is available at no extra cost and is available across our entire template range.

Onyx Olympics Clipart

2008-07-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

With the games just a few weeks away now, we've added the olympic graphic clipart that you'll need to transform your site into the full Olympics games website you need. All the athletes and all the highlights are available from our Sports and Games section in the Selection Box. Go ahead, and celebrate Beijing 2008 in style.

New floating objects

2008-07-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we rolled out a new change to our floating objects - now you can insert them wherever you like! On the Page Properties bar, simply click on the big plus sign button to bring up the Insert New menu as usual. When you've chosen an object, it will appear near the top of your screen all ready to drag and drop as you wish. You still have all of the functionality over it as you would with an object inserted normally, so if you wish to unfloat it into a position, simply hover over it, click the Properties button and click the checkmark to fix the object.

Remember, you only get this with the Standard account - another reason to upgrade to a truly great service!

Onyx template set

2008-07-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

With the Games of the 29th Olympiad upon us, we felt some of you might want to join in the sporting festivities with the new Onyx template set.

A bold and visually heavy motif in both single and dual column layout gives you the room to send a supportive message to whoever you're backing for the Gold or even a world record in addition to broad heading graphics and dynamic gallery presentation. This template would sit right at home with any sport too - perfect if you were thinking of tracking your team's progress in the coming NFL or European soccer seasons.

We'll also be adding some Olympic themed graphics to the library very soon, so keep your eyes open!

New Template Options and Grid Snap

2008-07-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

We have recently been focusing on the free format Floating Object features and you now have the option to set the width of your templates, and your objects will snap into place so that they line up perfectly.

Up to now, all templates in the 350pages range have been built on variable width, which adapts itself to any monitor size, but is not always the best option if you've wanted to float objects and freely position them relative to the template layout. The fixed width alternatives allow you to do this without having to worry what it will look like on any other computer, and the best thing of all is that you can change this at any time.

Simply go into the page properties editor whilst you are editing, and you will see a drop down menu titled Page Width towards the bottom. This will have 2 or 3 options, depending on the template (one will always be Variable, and the other one or two will be a fixed style). Simply select the type you want from the menu, and then click save, and your page will switch layout on the fly. It's that simple.

You won't have to do anything to turn Grid Snap on - this feature locks all floating objects into an invisible grid so that positioning objects inline with each other is much easier than it was before. When you drag, the object's edges will snap to the grid points. If you want the same freedom you had before when positioning, you can achieve this by simply holding down Ctrl while dragging to temporarily turn the grid off.

We hope you enjoy these two new additions to 350pages, and remember - much, much more is already on its way.

Two new releases for Standard account holders!

2008-06-06T07:27:00.001-07:00

A double release for Standard account holders today.

The Opal template is now available in the template picker. A contemporary, clean design for those who like the quieter, simpler presentation of their website. With a number of different styles, presenting your content with Opal has endless possibilities, with two and three column width options available, as well as rows and even a half-bordered, half-open approach.

Additionally, following suggestions from you, we have now introduced new additions to our Object Properties menu. From today, you can now:

- Set individual border options for each side of the object. Set the thickness, style and color of your border as a whole, or differently across the object. Create individual styles that are perfect for you.
- Set individual padding options for your background to make sure your object has enough space to breathe, and show its true potential safely on the page.
- Alter the background color of your object - or have no background color at all, making it transparent.

All you have to do to take advantage of these brilliant functions is upgrade to the Standard account! If you want to upgrade, simply log into your 350 account, click on the My Account button, click the Buy button on the Standard account option and follow the prompts.

Captioned Images

2008-05-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

With the captioned images feature of 350pages, it's easy to single out images on your page where you want to add more of a background to the image. When you have placed an image on your page, in the photo editor click on the Display tab to reveal the two additional options that will help transform your image - the Caption, and the Thumbnail. In the Caption box, simply type the text that you want to appear below the image, and in the Thumbnail drop down menu, choose the size of the image you want to display on the page. When your visitors click on it, it will open up to the original full size.

You can make an even more tailored captioned image by choosing to add your image with a caption from the insert menu. This adds Canvas, Text and Frame colour, if you want to make your image stand out even further.

Give it a try - the correct presentation of images can give your website a real boost.

Quick Edit

2008-04-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Edit your webpage whilst viewing it in your web browser. It’s quick and easy!

We have created a Quick Link button for you, which you click to instantly activate the editor for the current page that you are viewing. Just go to www.350.com/editpage and drag the button into your links bar. Then visit one of your pages and give it a click to try it. If you don't have a browser that supports this drag and drop, then right click the link and add it to your links bar through your Favorites.

Photo Gallery tutorial

2008-04-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

In the recent release was a Photo Gallery feature so we want to give you a quick demo on how to turn a handful of photos into a gallery on your webpage.

The great thing about 350pages is that you can do everything to create a gallery of perfect images. There's absolutely no need for any other software – you have the uploader, photo galleries and photo editor all in 350pages. To show how simple it is, we will be using some very large and unoptimized images.

We will upload images of Chinese Dragons. They are all different resolutions, so we want to resize them first and we can do that very easily with the Java uploader.

If we set all of these images to be uploaded at the Medium size, you can see that they all changed to a similar, smaller size.

Notice that the third image doesn't change. This is because it’s already within the boundaries of the Medium size, and so stays at its original setting. We then select the upload button.

Next, we select a webpage to put them on. Select to add a new Gallery. With the gallery editor now on screen, we click ‘Add’ and select the photos we want and then click on the ‘Use’ button. We won’t use any of the editor's other options at the moment, so simply click ‘Save’ to see how the page looks with the gallery on it.

See how our images are now even smaller? These are thumbnail versions of the images which are copies of the uploaded images, reduced in size so that they can be easily displayed on a webpage. This makes a website much easier to view, rather than having much larger images on the page.

So why did we resize the images in the uploader? The answer is simple - when you now save and publish the page and look at it on the web, you will be able to click on the thumbnail images to open the larger version in a slideshow format. As they were resized on upload they are all consistent in presentation.

Now, I'm sure you noticed our gallery is unbalanced at the moment - there are six images, with four displayed on the first line and only two on the second line. So, from within the Gallery Editor we now click on the Settings button and change the number of columns to 3.

This is the result.

Much better!

There's a lot more to the gallery editor than just these functions. You can also add captions to each of your images, as well as replace gallery images with graphics, paragraphs or e-commerce buttons. For further information select the Help ? or view the video on Creating Photo Galleries.

Vertical Templates

2008-04-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

You can now be even more creative with 350pages with the launch of a vertical graphics option. To see it in action look at the new template set, Vertigo.

In the graphics editor, go to the Effects tab, and choose the orientation of the graphic from the Rotate menu - it's as simple as that! Now you can have headings and button bars scaling down the side of your template, or even upside down!

350pages Standard and Lite now live

2008-04-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

We have now released 350pages Standard and Lite, two new versions of our groundbreaking 350pages website creator tool. If you are looking for a few more pages, webspace and an advert free look to your website, the Lite account is for you. However, if you are looking for the most complete web authoring program on the market, the 350pages Standard account is a perfect solution. With additional graphics, clipart, photos, a vastly enhanced photo editor, the ability to copy pages and button bars across your website, enhanced object properties, forms, thumbnail creation and slideshows, HTML and e-commerce tools, you'll be hard pushed to find a better webpage builder out there. 350pages Standard is just $79.99 USD/£45.99 GBP/€74.99 EUR.

Please look out for our guides on how to use our new and powerful photo gallery and captioned images features very soon.

Uploading Images before Creating your Webpages

2008-02-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

We recommend that you upload your images into your File Manager before you start to create your webpages. This is easy using the Upload option in the Home Control Panel or in the File Manager.

Many modern digital cameras take photos at huge resolutions and with huge filesizes that would not be suitable for display on a webpage. Using this upload you will need to resize your photos prior to uploading them (We are hoping to release a new Java uploader very shortly that will compress photos upon upload). Please see this guide for more information.

You can upload up to 6 files at a time from the Upload window. Click on the Browse button and find the file on your computer from the window that appears. You can then enter your descriptive tags (separated by a comma, for example "australia,koala,sydney") next to the browse box for that file. Repeat for all of the files you wish to Upload, and then click on the Upload button. The files will then appear in your File Manager. Bear in mind that you may have a few minutes to wait if your files are large.

Registering Your Website For Google Webtools

2008-02-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

If you are wanting to drive traffic to your website, Google's Webmaster Tools can be of huge benefit in analysing your performance on the Google search engine. The Webmaster Tools will show you how Google sees your website, and will alert you to any problems Google have with indexing your site into their search engine. In addition, you can get statistics on the searches from Google and how they attract visitors to your site.

Go to the Google Webmaster Tools home page, and enter your Google Account log-in details (you can sign up for a Google Account if you don't already have one). When you have logged in, enter the web address of your website into the box (for example, mysite.350.com) and click Add Site. You will then be able to see the statistics and information on how Google works with your website by clicking on the Diagnostics and Statistics buttons. These tools can assist you to tailor your website in the best possible way to be indexed in Google's search engines, thus improving the level of traffic you receive to your website.

QuickGuides and Resources

2008-01-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

You may already be aware of our Library. It's a website packed with tutorials and QuickGuides for enhancing your website with a variety of services.

We have now added five more QuickGuides featuring some of the latest Internet tools and services, including instructions on embedding YouTube video and Google Calendars.

Visit the library here

We've also put together a list of web resources that can be inserted into your website, most of them with just a snippet of HTML. Inserting HTML into your 350pages website is a very simple process, and we have a step by step guide on how to do that here. The resource page is here.

Experiment with your website, and you might just create something beyond your own expectations!

Domain Names

2008-01-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for your own web address identity, a domain name might be the perfect match for you, giving you your own unique address on the ‘net.

You can now register a .com, .net, .org, .co.uk, .org.uk, .eu and .info - and if it's already taken, our system will let you know right there and then. With 350pages you can also configure your domain by adding e-mail redirects as well as deciding the folder it should point to within your 350pages account.

Getting your domain name is simple. From your 350pages Home Control page, click on the My Account tab...

... and you will be taken to the Services page, where you can sign up to our various paid services. In the Domain Name box, enter the domain you would like to register (and choose the appropriate extension from the drop down menu, eg .com and then click on the Buy button for the Domain Name service. You will then see the payment confirmation screen, where you will input your credit card details. Click the Purchase button and once your credit card has been processed successfully, the service will automatically be added to your account.

You will find a configuration button in the Purchased Services list where you can add your e-mail redirects and point the domain to a specific folder in your account.

Please note that all services are automatically renewed, but they can be cancelled from within 'My Accounts' by clicking the Cancel button on the appropriate service.

Advert Free Webpages

2008-01-11T02:35:00.001-08:00

You can have Google advert-free webpages for less than half the cost of a cup of coffee a month! The perfect solution for a professional looking site!

For just $20/€15 EUR/£10 GBP (ex. VAT) a year, you can remove advertisements on your pages.

Getting your advert-free webpages is simple. From your 350pages Home page, click on the My Account tab and you will be taken to the Services page, where you can sign up to our various paid services. Click on the Buy button for the Advert-Free Service. You will then be taken to the payment confirmation screen, where you will input your credit card details. Click the Purchase button and once your credit card has been processed successfully, the service will automatically be added to your account. The pages will automatically republish removing the advertisements in the process.

Please note that all services are automatically renewed, but can be cancelled from this screen by clicking the Cancel button on the appropriate service.

Moving The Object Bar

2007-12-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

Occasionally on some templates, you may find the Edit Bar getting in the way of another object that you want to edit. But you can move the edit bar out of the way at any time. Simply move your mouse to the position that you want to place it, hold down Ctrl on your keyboard, and then click. It's as simple as that!

And finally, we also now have an examples page on our website, available here. If you're struggling with ideas for site content or style, you can log onto this page to see our personal favourite creations from our customers. If you have a page you wish to submit to our examples page, send the link to support@350.com so we can take a look.

See you in the New Year!

Linking Pages

2007-12-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

Seasons greetings everyone! All of us at 350pages wish you the very best over the holiday season and hope you get whatever it is that you wish for. If you're wishing for a website, we can grant you an early present with 350pages, so dive in and check out our newest features.

Linking Pages:

We think you might like to take a closer look at some of the features within 350pages on a regular basis here on the blog, and the first we've chosen is the Button Bar Editor. On templates that have a button bar - either vertically or horizontally orientated, the button graphics are grouped together so that they can be edited quickly together. Let's say you had created four pages in a template set and wanted to link them together. By hovering the mouse pointer slightly outside of the buttons, you will see that the edit bar shifts to the top of the entire group of
buttons.

Click on the edit function on this bar, and you can see the menu of all of the buttons together.

We have four pages, but here are six buttons - so let's eliminate the bottom two buttons (News and Contact) by clicking the small X on the right for each of them. Then we will rename the other four buttons to match our four webpages. Now we will set up the links. On the home button, click on the drop down menu and choose "350 page or object". You will see the 'Link To' button on the right changes to a drop down menu. When you click on this, it will display a list of every file in your
File Manager - so you simply click on the appropriate page. Here's an image of a completely linked website from the buttons we were editing:

Groups

2007-12-10T06:49:00.000-08:00

If you're snap happy with your camera like me, then you'll want to put your photos onto your webpages in a gallery style. So we have created a 'Group copy' and we have also added more template layouts in various styles. These new layouts - Ayin, Pe, Pe-1, Kaf and Zayin, each feature the ability to duplicate the row of photos with captions.

This is perfect if you wish to create a gallery of your holiday/family snaps or want to present a page full of your products. If you hover your mouse near to the row of content, you will see a reduced editing bar:

Simply click the Insert button, choose Copy of Group from the menu, and click the above or below button to duplicate the group!

For those unsure of what the new layouts look like in the template picker, take a look at the screenshots below taken from the various sets. Remember they are available in a wide number of our templates for all different kinds of look and feel.

Currently, you can't upload photos whilst you are editing a webpage - but we are working on it! In the meantime, the workaround is to upload all of the images you want on a specific page before you start the creation process. Planning out your page in advance will certainly help you to achieve that, and we have a few helpful tips on planning available at our QuickGuides page located here.

So now you can create as many photo galleries as you like.

Extended Characters

2007-11-29T03:01:00.000-08:00

Good News! From now on you can use accents and punctuation in graphics and in the details of "My Account".

¡Buenas noticias! De ahora en adelante se puede usar acentos y signos de puntuación en gráficos y en los detalles de "My Account".

Until now, support for non-standard characters on 350pages has only been available in our text editor. This update enables extended characters to be used in graphics too. Check out our sample graphics below, all constructed in 350pages today:

All latin based characters can be inserted into graphic dialogs now, although only those above will appear onscreen. All others, such as Chinese characters, will appear as a question mark. All characters can be used for Alt tags - especially useful for search engine submission. You can also update your My Account details with these characters.

Another request has been for video tutorials for 350pages. I am pleased to say that these are now in production to provide you with easy instructions for creating your website using 350pages. As always, we'll let you know here when and where to find them.

And remember that we are still looking for testers. If you're interested in getting your hands on our latest developments before anyone else, please drop us a line at support@350.com.