Small Business Technology, Web & eCommerce Insights
Articles & Perspectives
Quick Overview of Drupal for Beginners & How To Get Started
Gabriel RichardsOverview of open source content management platform Drupal for beginners looking to get started, including explanation of nodes, content types, modules and core.
Choosing a Crowdfunding Platform
Gabriel RichardsChoosing a crowdfunding platform that's best for your campaign is no small task since popular platforms may appear identical, but that impression dissipates upon further examination.
Multiple Inserts with Prepared Statements in Symfony 1.4
Gabriel RichardsUsing Prepared Statements in Symfony1.4 instead of other methods such as doInsert or creating an object in a loop.
Multiple Inserts with Prepared Statements in Symfony 1.4
Gabriel RichardsUsing Prepared Statements in Symfony1.4 instead of other methods such as doInsert or creating an object in a loop.
Data Security: Do I Need an SSL Certificate?
Gabriel RichardsThe potential need for an SSL Certificate is an important consideration for any website that handles visitor information in order to protect it and assure visitors that their sensitive data is being sent to the correct source rather than to a criminal enterprise.
Why PCI Compliance is Vital to Your Business
Gabriel RichardsPCI compliance is important to any business that accepts credit or debit cards in order to maintain the security of customer accounts and customer relations as well as to avoid security breaches and their resulting financial impacts.
The "What" of MySQL ENUMs (as well as the "Why"?)
Gabriel RichardsAn explanation of the MySQL Enum ("enumeration") data type including a discussion of its practicality, advantages and disadvantages, usage examples and alternatives.
How Symfony1.4 Provides a Route to a Better URL
Gabriel RichardsAn explanation of how a Uniform Resource Locator ("URL") is affected by the Symfony1.4 framework including a discussion of route patterns, request URL translation and URL creation via Symfony1.4.
Add a Website to Your New Business
Gabriel RichardsDiscussion of the process involved in adding a website to a new business including one-size-fits-all versus customization, collaborative process with website developers, waterfall and agile development methodologies and potential goals of a new business website.
Intro to Payment Gateways for Your Crowdfunding Site
Gabriel RichardsHow to determine the best Payment Gateways for your Crowdfunding Site including discussion of "all-or-nothing" and "partial credit" models and comparisons of payment service providers WePay, Balanced and PayPal.
Will an Off-the-Shelf Solution Work for Your Social Network Web Design?
Gabriel RichardsOverview of whether an Off-the-Shelf Solution will work for various Social Network Web Designs, including discussion of the pros and cons of Ning and Elgg compared to customizable solutions.
Planning Your E-Commerce Shipping & Customer Service Policies
Gabriel RichardsDiscussion of shipping charges & customer service policies for a business adding e-commerce to its brick & mortar. Topics include whether customer or business will bear shipping costs, how customers will contact you online and policies for responding.