PixelMill Blog

Innovative SharePoint Driven Web Templates Radically Simplify Site Building and Content Management

(DAVIS, CALIF.) - May 9, 2008 - PixelMill.com, a provider of design solutions for Web site builders and content managers, today unveiled a series of new content management system Web templates that gives all levels of Internet users the ability to easily and instantly edit content areas of Web sites from within ordinary Web browsers.

By combining the professional graphic design of pre-designed Web templates with the power of Microsoft's SharePoint-driven content management system (CMS) interface, PixelMill has introduced an unprecedented level of Web design and content management simplicity. With support from Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) experts B4Contact to develop the new Web template products, PixelMill crafted for business professionals a site building and content management solution that enables virtually any staff member with minimal Web experience and training to contribute to and dynamically edit and update a company's Web presence.

"With today's tightening economy and the rapid decentralization of employees and business partners, establishing a Web presence built on a centralized collaborative tool like SharePoint makes good business sense," said PixelMill CEO Jason Reckers. "This new approach removes virtually all obstacles for businesses to quickly create, deliver and manage a world-class Web presence."

PixelMill advanced this initiative to provide users the customer-centric focus of past Web sites and the collaborative features of today's social collaborative sites which bring together employees and business partners into a secure online environment.

Content management system Web templates from PixelMill are used from within ordinary Web browsers. The templates are first loaded onto a Windows SharePoint Services web server in a process very similar to publishing a standard web site. Hosted Windows servers running SharePoint services are available from a growing number of Windows-based hosting companies, including SharePoint experts at Frontpages Web Hosting Network and B4Contact (in Europe), and other large Web site hosting companies.

With the template loaded, staff members given permissions may login and start making edits and most common changes to content areas of the site from within the browser. The innovative Web browser interface allows for the easy addition of pictures, graphics and images, extra pages, and the ability to modify navigation bars, instantly edit and update content areas with full "rich text" capabilities.

Leveraging Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services to drive the simpleCMS templates follows a series of moves by PixelMill to make Web site building cost effective, easy to manage, and scalable for web presence growth especially for small and medium sized businesses. Among its more recent moves to make Web site building and editing easier, PixelMill introduced in October 2007 a new catalog of Web Themes and Template "Skins" specifically designed for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to give novice and progressive Web enthusiasts the ability to transform the "out-of-the-box" SharePoint site design into a variety of customizable designs.

PixelMill's new content management system Web templates are designed as flexible, cost effective packages that give small to mid-size businesses a solution they can grow with for internal team and external partner collaboration, as well as on-the-fly maintenance of their own public-facing web site. In addition to its new SharePoint-driven Web templates, PixelMill's other SharePoint services include custom design work for WSS and MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server). Having contributed to more than 60,000 Web sites, PixelMill's adaption to back-end solutions allowed it to quickly introduce to the design and developer market enterprise solutions that offer increased flexibility and choices in implementing the look and functionality of SharePoint products and services.

Established in 1998, PixelMill serves as the Web's central source of solutions for Web site builders and content managers. PixelMill's extensive digital library features high quality templates and tools - guaranteed royalty free and free of copyright concerns - including more than 2,000 Web, Microsoft® Expression® Web, SharePoint Designer, Adobe® Dreamweaver®, FrontPage®, and HTML templates, 1,800 PowerPoint® templates, 9,000 stock images, and 4,500 royalty free music tracks. Media Contact: Chris Doyle, 916.847.0261 cdoyle@pixelmill.com

Has it been that long?

I realize now that it has been over four months since our last post and our last newsletter. Don't worry, we're still here and working on the business of developing new and exciting solutions for you and your customer's needs.

I recently returned from the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Redmond. Over the years Microsoft conferences have been somewhat dull and uneventful from a business perspective. Often, they've been very tech heavy with hard-core coders periodically peaking up over their laptops between (and during) sessions. The one exception being the MIX events, which have had a flare to them from the beginning.

This year's SharePoint Conference threw much of that somber "I need to be here, because I was told I need to be" mentality out the window. First, the conference was over sold out. They added a couple over-flow rooms for the keynotes, and it wasn't unlikely to find standing room only in the sessions. The most important observation was the constant buzz. People are 'excited' about SharePoint, and it's not just programmers and network administrators. Many of the attendees, from my observation, were also business consultants and process managers. The industry is seeing the value of SharePoint both inside and outside the Enterprise.

I won't deliver a complete synopsis of the conference, but want to point out the energy we're seeing behind SharePoint. Stay tuned as we start to roll out SharePoint specific solutions that you can start using for your business or as an opportunity to connect with your clients.