OfficeLive updates

Create a Post
Rick Bergeron - CPF

Rick Bergeron - CPF

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Aug 18, 1999
Posts
2,280
Loc
Canistota, SD USA
Business
Lost Cajun Chateaux
Below are a few of the "just implemented today" features

=======================================================
Web Site Design Improvements

Based on feedback and requests from our customers we have made several improvements to the Web Site design tools, improving the level of customization and flexibility to create the desired look and feel and meet customer web site design expectations.

New Web Site Theme Options (images, layouts, colors) – New themes are being added to the existing options in the Web site design tool, including: 5 new color sets, 5 new header styles, 5 new image categories.

New Video Module – A new Video module in the web site design tool, allowing customers to more easily display a linked YouTube or similar video on their site, where the video is hosted with another service. (ACTUALLy MSN version of YouTube is supported)

Logo/Header Image Improvement – The header image and site logo functions on the web site design tool are being improved to remove confusion and combine the functionality into an easier-to-use page header customization feature.


Domain Manager

The Domain Manager page has been redesigned to improve the user experience and remove confusion about web site domain names and domain management. A new step-by-step “wizard” interface for domain management has been implemented to add a new domain name, redirect a domain from another provider, and rename an existing default domain name.
 
Thanks, Rick. I checked it out. It's still tough to put a masthead in without a theme. I tried to put ours in, but it wants to put a funky theme into it. I wish that they had some more fonts.
 
MSFT OfficeLive software updates Aug 2009

Many of you have received the MSFT notice that "Free-for-Life" domains are no longer free after Oct 1, 2009. You'll receive an email billing notice 45 days prior to your domain expiration. If your expiration is before Oct 1, 2009, consider yourself lucky and you will have your domain free until 2010.

  • There have been updates made during the past week which are negatively impacting some websites. If you have any pages which use an OfficeLive Business Application displayed on a webpage using List Publisher, you should check the pages because many have had the formatting changed due to the update.
  • If you are using PayPal buttons, you need to verify that they are still functional. Many PayPal buttons were crippled & there was a patch to correct the issue, but you should check them.
  • Other 3rd party enhancements have been crippled, so check your pages if you have implemented any of these enhancements.
  • Report modules are being reported with issues. My recommendation is to install GoogleAnalytics for reporting since the data is far superior to the MSFT OfficeLive reports and then you do not have to worry about the OL report module problems that seem to be an every 3rd month issue. There is a special procedure for installing GoogleAnalytics, so please don't just paste the code into an HTML module unless you want serious headaches.
 
That service seems to have a lot of problems and limitations. A regular full featured web host without the ad is only about $4-$5 per month. Domain registration is usually $6.99 or so per year, with godaddy. There are coupons all over.

It may be worthy of consideration :) That's pretty cheap for the monthly fee, considering how great the return is. I doubt you'll find an equally effective advertising method for less than $5 per month, with such a large exposure.

Mike
 
Office Live is $14.95 per year now. You can remove all Microsoft logos from the site.
 
For web presence, it is economical. Like Jeff said, $14.95 / year. No Ads or MSFT logos once you figure how to turn them off. You can use whatever software you desire to create and upload your site (as long as you don't need server side scripts and a few other caveats). BTW: the OfficeLive marketing department & telephone support department were both eliminated about 4 weeks ago.

If you want to "Sell Stuff", OfficeLive sux bigtime. Just last week, the updates crippled my catalog so bad that it will take a few days to implement/install the fix once I get it figured out. Tech Support claims that there have been no software changes on their part even though the support staff has been suddenly overloaded with support issues.

I'm going to be taking Mike's advice in about 3 weeks and move the domain registration of all our sites to GoDaddy and add them to one of my existing hosting accounts. The only reason for the delay is that the MSFT prod mgr is on vacation till then and I really don't want to be using a procedure that I can't verify functionality other than MSFT says it works 'in-house'.
 
Create a Post
Back
Top