Question #2: What is the NewfangledCMS built in?

Answer: The NewfangledCMS has been in development since 2000 and is built with PHP and MySQL. We use Zend optimizer and Zend compiler to improve performance. NewfangledCMS sites consist of stand-alone PHP templates (like for a home page), multi-page PHP templates (for press releases or products) and CSS files for content display. NewfangledCMS sites also include client-entered data stored in the MySQL database, existing NewfangledCMS applications (built to extend the functionality of a NewfangledCMS site) and a site-specific components file written in PHP for custom site functions...

Question #3: What does the NewfangledCMS actually give us control of?

Answer: The basic user license gives our clients control over all content on every page of their website. This typically includes the body text, headlines, sub heads, default images with their captions, inset images and document attachments. Clients can also access a content formatter to make simple text formatting changes (bold, italic, lists, etc.). The formatter also has a built-in link generator for creating internal and external links. Images can be uploaded in gif or jpeg format at any size and scaled in the formatter, however we highly recommend formatting all images to the desired size before uploading. Intentionally, we do not provide text font, color or size formatting options because they are handled globally through the CSS.

Question #4: What are the specs for your hosting?

Answer: RackSpace is our premiere managed hosting provider. They have an outstanding network infrastructure that boasts 100% uptime, four years running. We host on a Linux platform using Apache. We have one main production server with an exact standby server that mirrors all content in case of hardware failure. Both servers reside behind a firewall. The server has dual AMD Athlon MP 2600+ 2.133 GHz processors, 3 GB of RAM and a SCSI RAID array of three drives with over 100GB of storage. RackSpace runs daily differential backups and weekly full directory backups. We provide Urchin 5 stats reports, which compile nightly for every site. Email, if needed, is provided via our Noteworthy, Rackspace's specialized email service.

Question #5: Can we host a NewfangledCMS site in house?

Answer: Yes. Server requirements: Dedicated Linux/Apache server, Pentium 4 - 2ghz, 1gb RAM, 50GB Hard Drive, Linux (RedHat Enterprise Linux AS suggested), MySQL 4.0.20, PHP 4.3.6, Zend Optimizer 2.5.1. There is a one-time setup charge for in-house hosting. We still change a monthly fee for NewfangledCMS application technical support, and we charge for additional ongoing server technical support.

Question #6: Can we integrate with WhateverBase?

Answer: We generally avoid real time integration with secondary databases. However, depending on the database and its web support, we do make exceptions. Such instances are determined on a case-by-case basis.

Question #7: What if Newfangled goes under?

Answer: Our favorite FAQ! Alas, it must be asked. Our contractual terms and conditions state that if Newfangled were to go belly up (I think we use more professional terminology in our actual contract), we will provide uncompiled NewfangledCMS source code to each Newfangled client for the maintenance of their existing website. Because we've used PHP and MySQL as our development environment, in the unlikely scenario that Newfangled goes under, finding an alternate developer should be easy enough. For the sake of comfort, it may help you to know that we have been in business since 1995 and are privately owned...not driven by venture capital investors.


There are many questions that need to be answered when it comes to examining the suitability of a particular website technology. Hopefully, this newsletter has provided enough broad answers to most technical questions. We can engage in further dialogue about our system for any particular project. Feel free to contact us if you have other questions or if you'd like us to get more specific about anything we've already covered. But in closing, I'd like to suggest one other important aspect of building confidence when picking a developer: track record. Hearing from existing clients can be extremely helpful in determining whether our process, capabilities and approach are suitable for your website. We've posted many testimonials on our website, and our proposals contain contact information for many more clients.