New(ish) Design

We’ve just refreshed the design of the mkdynamic website with a quick css revamp. Hopefully the site is a bit clearer and easier to use. It provides a bit more space for text, and looks neater by moving the main text to the left, and shifting the old menu to the right.

Changing the Design was Easy

As the site was built with web standards compliant xhtml and css, it was actualy pretty easy to rejig the design. Apart from a few changes to the overall xhtml template (like moving around 1 or 2 divs), it was all done from the master CSS file.

I’ve been passionate about designing with standards for a while now, and this has just reinforced my opinion that it is a great idea. The redesign took just 3 hours, and there’s no way this would have been so easy if it were not for the well structured css and xhtml code.

Please give us your feedback on the redesign, and tell us about your experiences with web standards.

The Perfect CMS

After having spent years implementing various CMS solutions, we feel that there is still no easy to use system for small to medium sized websites. There are a lot of freelance and small sized web design businesses that build company websites that need a CMS – and the current selection of CMS solutions is vast.

The Open Source Systems

For small/medium sized websites, that are typical of many public company sites, there is no particular star. All of the Open Source systems have terrible user interfaces, and make it difficult for the client to manage their site. Clients want incredibly simple systems that do not require any training or user manuals – we think this is possible.

Commercial Systems

The market for commercial CMS is large, but again we have not found one clear leader. All of the systems have weaknesses, and all the ones we have tried are not simple enough in our opinion. They have to simple for the clients – that is the key to having the software become loved and subsequentally used!

Simple, Elegant & Useful

So, we are going to build The Perfect CMS. Obviously this is quite an ambition, but we feel confident that we know how to make it successful. Focus on the simplicity. That simple. You can hide all the complex stuff behind a really simple UI, so it is present but not confusing for someone who just wants to add a page or edit some content.

We’re aiming this product at small web design businesses who are producing non-ecommerce websites. This will be a hosted, subscription based solution.

Tell Us What You Need

We’re inviting you to help us compile a list of requirements. Tell us your opinions (especially if you are a designer), what makes the perfect CMS for you? Also, as this will be a commercial product, we’d like to get your idea on what kind of price you think is reasonable?

Please, help us to help you. Tell us what the web design community needs!