18 May 2009 1,798 views No Comment Email This Post

I thought I would do some posts every now and again which are completely off topic (hence the blog category). I thought I would start today by letting you know a few facts about what’s under the hood of this site – that is, what are the different software programs of applications which make this site work.

In essence, there are two separate pieces of software which are integrated to work together to make this all work. The first of these is a free, open source program called WordPress and the other is a commercial product referred to as BANS, which stands for Build a Niche Store.

WordPress was originally developed as a simple to use blogging system, which allowed users to easily set up a blogging web site, and for them to post information to their site. WordPress is an ‘open source’ application, which means that the computer coding which is used to make it work is freely available to the general public. What this means is that all the adventurous computer literate people (aka Nerds) are able to develop enhancements to the system to make it work better. It also means that there is a large community of developers who can implement these improvements, and also develop separate, single function applications (referred to as plugins and widgets) which add different functionality to WordPress. At the time of writing there are more than 6,000 free plugins listed on the WordPress website, along with many, many more which are commercially available. WordPress is constantly evolving and updates are regularly available.

Another advantage of using WordPress is the use of themes. WordPress is a bare bones system which comes with a pretty simple and stand look for the produced blogging web site. However, developers have also produced a huge number of themes which can be added to WordPress very simply which can completely change the look of your web site, without changing the content. Again, at the time of writing there were almost 1,000 different free themes available from the WordPress web site, with a far greater number available form developer sites, both free and commercial.

If you’re interested in learning more about WordPress or downloading the latest version (and why not, it’s free!) you can visit the WordPress web site at http://www.wordpress.org.

BANS, as I mentioned is a commercial product which was developed by two Poms, Kelvin and Adam which is similar in some ways to WordPress in that it compiles a web site based on information provided into an administration interface. However, BANS is linked to the eBay Partner Network (EPN) and is able to pull auction listings out of eBay and display them within a BANS web site. This allows the web site owner so create a web site dedicated to a particular niche, for example the Apple iPhone as in the case of iPhoneFrenzy and pull listings from eBay in relation to iPhone handsets, accessories, cases etc.

People who view the web site are encourage to make an eBay purchase using the auction listings displayed within the BANS site, which brings a small commission to the owner of the site.

The iPhoneFrenzy site actually utilises both WordPress and the BANS systems, which have been linked together in such a way so as to take advantage of the best features of both systems – the ease of use for adding new posts to the WordPress blog with the convenience of the connection with the eBay listings.

If you want to learn more about the BANS system or purchase your own copy, please click on the about BANS logo. Similarly, if you are interested in joining the eBay partner network (Australia) please click on the eBay logo.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this brief glimpse under the hood of the iPhoneFrenzy web site. This has just been a pretty quick basic tour, there is actually plenty more under there. I hope that I will be able to talk a little more about other aspects of the site some time in the future.