Web Design Discussion

My experience with SnippetMaster

There are 2 versions of SnippetMaster.

1. Snippetmaster LITE - free, copyright information must remain intact
2. Snippetmaster PRO - $24.95 One License, can remove copyright information
3. Snippetmaster Rebrandable License - $74.95 The templates are completely brandable to your own company details.

I have only installed the Lite Version but I found it was sufficient for my client to use.
I installed it in the root directory of the site files.

Configuring the admin panel

-Click General to fill out the program options
-Click Users to give the client User Privileges

* Admin - User has access to all Admin Areas. User can edit all files and all snippets.
* Super - User can edit all files and all snippets.
* Power - User can edit all snippets.
* Regular - User can only edit snippets if they are listed in the Users access control list of the Snippet Tag

I gave my client admin privilege as she will be the only one editing her site.
Note: Make sure you edit the UserName, RealName, UserType that already exists in the admin panel.

-Click List Group to create a group that the user will belong to.

Here is how I wrote the snippet into the html code:

############################

<!-- #BeginSnippet name="main content" users='clientname' -->

<!– #EndSnippet –>

############################

Notice that I named the snippet “main content” because I only wanted the client to edit the main content and nothing else e.g., navigation, images, footer I used the client’s name as the user.

How to use SnippetMaster

1. Login to SnippetMaster
2. Select a folder on the server from the drop down box
3. Click open
4. Select the file you wish to edit from the second drop down box
You will see a heading titled “SNIPPETS” these are the snippets embedded in the web pages
that can be edited .
5. Select a file from under the SNIPPET heading
6. Click open.
The editor will open the web page to be edited.
7. Edit the area displayed in the window (only the editable area will be displayed).
8. Click save
Your edited page will now appear in the window.

Note: The PRO version allows you to preview the page before you save it.

Conclusion

I highly recommend SnippetMaster for any web designer who needs his clients to update their own static web sites.
The Lite version is free, easy to install, simple to configure. It’s also easy for your client to understand how to operate it.
It enables you to predefine only those areas you wish to make editable for your client without messing you the design.

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Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to my “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization

One of the most often asked questions about web site maintenance is

How can I update the web site myself?

If it’s a small html web site containing 5-10 pages I suggest using SnippetMaster. If it’s a content management(CMS) website the customer has access to an administration panel which allows them to edit the content.

The beauty of a static html site is that it only has a small number of files. A CMS site contains 100s of files and the software needs to continuously be updated to the latest version to stay ahead of security bugs.

What is SnippetMaster?

SnippetMaster is a free content editing tool that edits pre-defined areas of a web page, through any browser, without altering the rest of the web page.

Features

* Fully compatible with all major browsers (including the Mac)

* Supports embedded and linked CSS files.

* Unlimited users (with different permissions levels!).

* Unlimited snippets per page.

* Ability to edit whole pages.

* A simple visual editor that is easy to use. (If you can use MS Word, then you can use SnippetMaster).

* Creates fully “valid” code that is compliant with all XHTML standards.

Read about more new features

Installation

Web Browser

SnippetMaster works with all major browsers.

Web Server

PHP 4.3 or higher with Zend Optimizer or Ioncube Support

Use the Autoinstaller to install or upgrade SnippetMaster

With the Auto-Installer, you do not need to unzip anything, worry about Zend/Ioncube encoders being installed on your server, edit any configuration files, set binary/ascii ftp mode, change file permissions, or anything else!

How does it work?

SnippetMaster is specifically designed to work seamlessly with existing web pages (including Dreamweaver templates and similar programs) without having to modify the existing design or HTML you or your designer has worked hard to create.

With SnippetMaster you can easily edit any web page or you can create editable regions (called “Snippets”).

Here’s an example of a snippet:

#############################


Page content goes here...

Page content goes here…


############################

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Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to my “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization

If you want to do a quick seas on Google to find specific information, you don’t want to receive results which are either irrelevant or contain the same content. Ideally you want the search engines to return results related to the keywords you entered. Search engines have become clogged with duplicate content. The top ten results should offer visitors a choice of different web pages.

Google is now doing something about it by creating a new patent application on near duplicate content. This new patent tries to keep its users from finding redundant content in the result pages.

How is content duplicated?

1. Web page content is available in different formats e.g., html page, PDF, printable page
2. Syndicated content e.g., articles, blog posts, news, press releases
3. Content Management System (CMS) displays the same content in different locations e.g., a blog post may also be listed in the category and archives sections.
4. Content is reproduced by others e.g.,your article may be distributed to other blogs, ezines, newsletters, web sites.

What’s in the patent application?

Google tries to detect duplicate duplicate content at different web addresses.

What does Google do when it detects duplicate content?

Google displays the original source of the content providing it has better inbound links than the other web sites carrying the same content. If the content is placed on a web page with higher quality links than your own, it will rank higher than your own site.

Tips

* Write unique content for your own web site and don’t distribute it to other sites.
* If you want to distribute the same content to other sites, place it on your own web site first, then wait until it has been
indexed by the search engines. This will ensure your site will get ranked ahead of the others carrying the same content.

*****************************************
Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to my “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Site Design, Web Hosting, Search Engine Optimization