We’re currently working on a new Ultra Internet Solution version (watch out! – It’s got some great new features) and we’re interested in hearing ideas and suggestions from the experienced UIS Community on what we could do to facilitate creating, managing and maintaining websites as intuitively as possible for business users. As you probably know, we are currently on version 3.6 of the Ultra IS platform (it has been six years and thousands of websites have been launched since we delivered a web site on version 1.0) and it is beginning to show that it is time for an overhaul. We know we have many loyal fans, but if you could, what would you like to see us do differently? We have made many changes and improvements since the first version. Most of those changes have come about because of features requested by our customers.

Many of you know that this company was founded by a couple of Psychology majors turned marketing professionals frustrated with not being able to manage our own website and those of our clients without costly and time consuming assistance from our web developers. We spec’d out, and had built our very own Content Management System to add and modify page content using tools similar to what we were already familiar with – Microsoft Word. We did this way before Content Management Systems were all the rage.

In fact, we got a lot of resistance from our early adoption of database drive website architecture from the web development world initially. Now of course, every popular website platform is database driven. And yes, there are still some dinosaurs who continue to build websites using traditional tools, hard coding their way to a finished product that forces their clients to learn difficult and confusing applications like Dreamweaver and FrontPage or be reliant on the web developer to make changes for them. But our clients have clearly indicated a preference for our strategy of being able to make quick changes to their websites themselves.

And small search companies like Google, Yahoo! and Bing have confirmed that websites that have are being upgraded with new relevant content are the ones that they feel are most relevant to search terms.

So now is your chance to tell us what you really think about our strategies and products and let us know how you want them improved. Clearly we will not be able to implement every idea – at least not right off the bat, but your ideas and comments may spark that innovative concept that revolutionizes how future versions of our application will work.

Please keep in mind that the goal of the Ultra Internet Solution has been as a tool for business people and non-technical users to create, manage and maintain great websites. And as such, many of the tools that developers would like us to incorporate may not be possible. It is hard to serve two masters. There are a number of website builder tools specifically geared toward the developer community – much too complex for most business users. This is not our primary market. Our market is small and medium sized businesses who have more hats to wear and more things to get done in a day than there are hours to get them done. Our tools are well suited for creative folks, like designers and graphic artists who can visualize and create interesting designs, but do not have the necessary developer skills to create dynamic database driven websites. But equally at home with a business owner who wants to be able to create a well designed, attractive site without outside assistance.

Take a moment to think about the times when you’re working on your website and have been challenged or frustrated because the application did not do what you wanted it to the way you wanted it to work and post your ideas and comments.

How do (did) you do it? How would you improve it? Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you thought, “Oh, this would be so much easier if the Ultra IS could…….!

Well, it’s that missing ….. at the end of the last sentence that we would really like to hear about from everyone.

Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below. Doesn’t matter how crazy or out-there the ideas might be – we want to hear them!

Thanks a lot. Really!
Bob