Hacking Web Piston (Development Blog)

Nearing completion of version 8

VillageTech — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 03:13:00 GMT

Hello again everyone.

It's been a while since my last post here, but that's because the whole development team has been working on tons of new features. We've got some completely new stuff, some advancements in current functionality and some behind the scenes changes coming to Web Piston very shortly. It's been a lot of work but I think you'll be pleased with the new version. Here's a list of some of the new features we're getting ready to release:

New Photo Albums - The photo albums are switching to a new more browser friendly format. No more need for the java plugin to view your photos. The albums also have a sleek new interface.(for a sneek preview go to www.webpistontest.com)
The Calendar Assistant - A large number of you have requested it, and now calendars are coming to Web Piston. They have the same easy to use console based approach to adding events, optional email contact forms for each event, and a nice flash based interface.
The Portfolio Assistant - You can show potential clients your work easily by creating portfolios of your projects. The portfolio assistant allows you to add descriptions of your work along with photo albums showcasing your projects.
Media Download Blocks - You'll be able to add downloadable items to your website easily using our media download blocks. The blocks will be available to add to your homepage and the new "Add A Page" assistant (See Below).
The Add A Page Assistant - This assistant hands the control over to you - easily create a page for anything. The assistant allows you to create a page using the paragraph blocks from the home page assistant and more. You'll be in charge of deciding wether you want images, media downloads, paragraphs or photo albums or any combination of them on the pages you create. This gives you the freedom to create the pages you want. We even added our search engine optimization system to help you increase the visibility of your new pages on the web.
The Navigation Console - We've added a way to easily create, edit, and delete links from your site's navigation menu. It features a drag and drop interface and real time preview of your menu.
And more!

We are finishing up the development stage of these features, look for the release soon!

-Matt

Post Release

VillageTech — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 06:14:00 GMT

The official current production version of webpiston is 7. We made it throught another release.The implementation had a few kinks, but we worked them out and had everything functioning perfectly in short period of time. The release has been an overall success and we are adding more users than ever.

Web Piston Development Version 8

Even though we just released a version of WP, a lot of work has been put into version 8 already. Plans for the next version of Web Piston were already being written up before the release of version 7. There is a lot of planning, design, and development ahead, but right now the post release calm is kind of nice.

Template Design

I have been working on a CSS based template for web piston. Since the release I have mede some progress but I still have a few things to add before I add it to the list of templates available for use in web piston.

Welcome To Hacking Web Piston

VillageTech — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 02:09:00 GMT

Hello Readers.

I am Matt (villagetech) , the lead developer of Web Piston. This blog will serve as a chronicle of development, ideas and thoughts about Web Piston. I also want to provide a base for users to further customize their sites using some of the underlying systems that make up the web piston platform. Though WP is designed to be an easy to use site builder, anyone can add some more advanced functionality their site a little extra effort.

WP Status Update:

Web Piston 7 is currently in internal beta. This release is one of the largest updates since the introduction of our assistant technology. The major changes for this release are: The introduction of the contractor assistant (to help contracting firms easily build web sites), New Templates, and new Search engine optimization tools. A lot of work was also done on the core components of WP for better publishing, faster site setups and more.

The contractor assistant has many new features that we will be adding to the existing assistants (business, hobby, etc.) shortly after the release is finalized. These features include:

Page creation through our "Paragraph Console" - a system that breaks pages up into blocks of content (paragraphs). This system allows users to build a very customized page easily without having to worry about layout design.
Search engine optimization help system including keyword analysis and optimized text generation.

Last but not least, Web Piston Village. You are looking at it. We have forums, we have blogs, and a little SEO.

-Matt (villagetech)