Background reading
clearString manages the complex, skilled and time-consuming aspects of commercial web development projects so that anyone - the citizen developer and commercial web developer - can design, build and publish HTML websites and data-driven applications without writing code themselves.
Components are configured to manage web-page behavior without you hand writing the code. Configuration is set in custom dialogs, component by component. You retain full control. clearString installs and manages its own relational database and manages the IIS web server without any user involvement. The code clearString creates and uses is fully compiled - for maximum speed - rather then being interpreted. It will generate fully compliant W3C valid HTML, XML, Javascript / AJAX for execution by the clients to produce cross-browser websites and applications.
Why not just use open source solutions, for example, PHP on Linux? Setting all the legal reasons to one side, there are three serious practical problems with the custom coded, open source solution: Coding, Platform and Support Coding People use PHP for web development because it seems easy and there have been so few practical alternatives ...but nearly all such development is unmaintainable. It is a simple fact of life that the only person who can debug or revise a custom coded solution is the person who wrote it. If you build a business on hand crafted coding and scripting then you have placed your entire fortune in the hands of that person. They can hold you to ransom or just abandon you. clearString writes, maintains and optimizes the markup to create efficient, stable, cross-browser compatible web applications that work every time, can be easily maintained and can be easily extended for future product development. Platform clearString does not require expertise in Linux. The user and the designer are never aware of the operating system. All operations - designing, building and management are done via the web browser of their choice - Windows, Mac or Linux. Every organization can maintain a Windows server without specialist involvement. There are no versions of Linux that are suitable for non-technical users. If you are trying to use your website for something you rely on - such as your business - then Linux is simply not there yet for the average business. Support Getting timely support is a major issue with OpenSource development. Without a financial imperative there simply is not the incentive to go back and fix broken programs. This leaves users on their own with just peer-support. OpenSource may be free, but you don't want to build your business model on software that isn't there yet. OK - But aren't there any other existing solutions? No - nothing that is affordable. 'Off the shelf' or template packages don't suit: how could they, as by definition yours is a new venture, and outsourcing overseas falls into a morass of mis-communication and worries about Intellectual property rights. Do you really want to share your business model with some firm half a world away? |
Dogfooding
We eat our own dog food w. This site, and the associated support and technical documentation sites, registration system, license system, email system and ecommerce are all constructed only using clearString.
Technical notes Not a Desktop Application clearString is not a desktop application. It is not 'installed' on your personal computer. It is a cloud-style integrated development environment, or platform where you own the server. This means that you build applications and websites and manage all aspects of clearString using a standard web-browser (Firefox, Chrome, IE, or Safari). clearString is installed once on a Windows computer that then becomes the 'server'. That server hosts an unlimited number of websites and allows design access to an unlimited number of users. The server can be virtual or real, local or hosted, or Cloud-based such as Amazon AWS: clearString works the same. Markup management & Page Source clearString manages the markup (source code). This ensures that the sites you build are easy to maintain, and can be maintained at any time in the future by someone unfamiliar with the construction process. The source code delivered is not formatted to be human readable. The entire markup is is compressed for transmission. A human readable (indented) version of the page source is available via the Text Editor. W3C Compliance clearString produces XHTML-compliant code, however clearString does not take a position on W3C site validation, and does not enforce W3C compliance. It is for the site designer to make pragmatic decisions. CSS vs Tables clearString creates data-rich web-pages that work with all browsers, as cost-effectively as possible without compromising on site-design. clearString makes extensive use of CSS and provides a graphical user-interface called the 'Behavior Editor' to make CSS management straightforward. ClearString supports both DIV positioning and Table positioning in page layouts at the designers discretion. clearString Layout Elements use Tables for structural layout to provide scaling and cross-platform compatibility, while using the minimum markup. Designers may opt to use No Layout Elements. Accessibility clearString makes it straightforward to provide 'text-only', screen-readable congruent (self-managing) alternate pages for Section 508 accessibility, or the equivalent. |