Webfusion

Halloween Domain Specials

While we can’t offer you any dark chocolate tomorrow night for Halloween, we are offering up some sweet domain candy in terms of $6.66 .net domain name registration until November 5. With one of the best .net domain name prices on the market, you can start building new websites today by combining your domain with our Linux hosting packages. Each hosting plan comes complete with one-step installation for open source software packages such as Drupal and Joomla at no extra cost, so you can begin building your web presence today.

International Domain Names
Starting in 2010, companies will be able to register domains in complete non-Latin script, paving the way to true IDNs. Today, all domain extensions are Latin: for example,  Japan has been relying on country code .jp since 1986 rather than an extension in its native characters. Under the fast track roadmap released by ICANN, both the root and extension for a domain name will now be available in non-ASCII characters for country code domains.

Crafty Trade Interview

Webfusion recently spoke with the developers of CraftyTrade, a new site that aims to help artisans and professionals barter lessons, advice and insights. The collaborative site recently launched and has introduced a number of innovative new features:

WF: Where did the idea for CraftyTrade Come from?
CT: The Founder came up with CraftyTrade through her own personal need. She had been a jewelry making hobbyist for some time now and she wanted to further pursue the trade by learning metal-crafting techniques. She was not, however, in the position to finance formal schooling in the trade. So she thought to herself, “‘Wouldn’t it be great if someone in my area were willing to train me in exchange for a lesson for some type of skill I have – personal training sessions perhaps?”

WF: How did the team select the domain name for the site?
CT: Since the nature of the trade/skill exchange idea was craft related, the words Craft and Trade naturally stuck out. Then the realization that this was also a ‘crafty’ little way to trade skills, there led to the coined term, ‘CraftyTrade’. And, CraftyTrade was born!

WF: Collaboration is a major theme in web apps today – how do you see CraftyTrade differentiating itself from other sites?
CT: With the proliferation of bartering-type sites out there, there seemed to be an overriding need to simplify and organize the process of making connections with people who can offer exactly what it is you desire to achieve and the preferred type of interaction/exchange to be had. With that reality, the identification of four specific types of exchanges was defined through a four category search model. For instance, some may only like to teach and some may only seek to learn. To fill this need, users can utilize the ‘Get Schooled’ section. For exchanges where both teaching and learning will be exchanged (a true CraftyTrade experience), users can access the Crafty Trade search module. If a user wanted to learn from a trained professional, they could post in the ‘Apprenticeship’ search to offer their time and manpower for the chance to learn the trade. And, finally, with all these folks gathering to learn and teach new skills, there are bound to be some who desire to find others to simply share time enjoying one activity – a meetup users can organize through ‘Socials’.
So, essentially, with CraftyTrade’s organized, four meetup search models, users receive a simplistic, defined approach to finding others who seek the same type of experience. Also, there is the added benefit of staying in touch through profile pages (free) that additionally provide tracking of personal postings created.

WF: Which innovative new coding features did you integrate into the development of the site?
CT: What is excellent about the way the search modules were created is that the users when utilizing a particular module, will solely see a generated list of all those postings specifically relating to the other users who, on the opposite end of the spectrum, can provide what they seek (and vice versa). When all search fields are defined, the seekers see the providers’ postings, and the providers see the seekers’ postings. The approach is clear cut and, therefore, the user is not inundated with an array of unrelated and otherwise unwanted postings.