This is probably the largest scale freelance project I've ever written. It is a Content-Management and eCommerce business solution. It is a fully customizable solution and there's a lot there.

Basically, in the winter of 2005, I got word from one of my co-workers at Genevate, Devin, that his friend in Los Angeles wanted to develop a CMS/ecommerce system. Well, I called him up and we talked. Coordinating the project was difficult, given the great timezone difference, however, we trudged through. In a few months we had a product.

There are blog entries recording the development cycle. *when i integrate blogs w/ tags, they'll be more accesable*

Features

Modular Templates

The frontend is written in incredibly basic XHTML thus can be altered to fit an almost endless array of templates. The templates can be fit into it via Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In the admin, a customer simply has to select the template they want, and it will instantly set the design accordingly. Customers are encouraged to submit or request new mockups.

Content Management

Modules
When building a page, a customer can select a module. The pre-existing modules include Blog,Contact Form, Search Engine. Selecting the module basically turns the page into the said module. Customers are encouraged to request new modules, as the system can handle any type of small-scale web-app.

Search Engine Optimization
When building each individual page, users can include keywords and descriptions which will be broadcast to search-engines. In the main settings, customers can also set the primary search terms for the entire site.

Components
Components appear on every page on the users site, they include Footers, Sidebars, Visit Counters.

Page Creation
The most rudementary instrument of the CMS portion is the "Page". Users can attach modules to the Page, thus turning the page into a blog or contact form. There is a SEO feature. They can set the order that pages appear. They can create sub-pages. And set their homepage.

eCommerce

The eCommerce system is the second and more robust portion of the system.

Products
Products have all the attributes you'd expect.

• Product Options


• Options - products can have multiple options which can alter their price. For an upgrade, users can add images to the option.

Orders
Users can view and manage their orders and export them in a CVS format of their choosing.

Wishlist
Customers can manage wishlists if they create an account; they can also store their shipping/billing information.

Coupons
When customers check out, they can enter in a coupon code that is created in the coupon admin. They are set by percentage unless a custom solution is needed.

Shipping Methods
Shipping methods can be assigned by Domestic, International, State or All locations. They are on a per-weight basis. This can be made into a custom calculation as a custom solution.

Payment Gateways/Taxes/Misc. Settings
Customers can store several types of payment gateways within three types of services: Lead generation, Batch processing, and Authorize.net. They can set which state they apply sales tax. They can set the amount of products display per page, and in what order they appear (price/name/etc). Generally, they can fine-tune their eCommerce to work however they wish.

User Management

Breadstream is different than other CMSs in the ability to create different groups. Groups can have their own permissions, access and features. Basically, companies can have multiple managers of different levels of access for the site. For example, say the copy department has their own page with their own blog, but the sales department manages orders. With breadstream group management, they won't interfere with eachother.

Multiple Company Management

If a customer manages two seperate websites, they can easily bounce between each site w/o needing to log-in twice. There is a simple tab to switch between the two.

Consolidated Database/Hosting

The system is sharing all of the same data, thus all customers receive instant upgrades.

Another useful attribute is that all the clients are hosted on the same virtual server. So, hosting is included in the app package. Think of it is a turn-key website solution.

Knowledge Base

Users can submit their own questions and observe other question/answers, thus providing users with direction when they get lost.

Afterwords

This project still serves as a base for some of my clients. Every so often I make modified versions of it, and always impress myself with its flexibility. It still serves as a great framework for standard web pages.

I also created some pretty cool scratch-built designs for Breadstream clients, including a Hobby-shop/Game site design, a lobster shop, and a Bait Shop design. Usually, I leave the designs to third parties.