CMS Solutions

The Free Real Estate classifieds portal Khusan which is both for property sellers and property buyers has been voted ‘best property site of the year’ by Madeira island based full service digital marketing, development and web design agency Navega Bem – Web Design.

Navega Bem, which is the company that actually developed the Khusan project ran an in-depth analysis of the sites it has produced this year and took into consideration the  marketing effectiveness, clients comments, user comments, traffic and search engine visibility.

Chris Szabo, MD of Navega Bem explained “We simply wanted to understand how our websites have performed and what our clients have actually gained from their new web presence.”

“This has not been an analysis of any sites other than those we have produced ourselves. We have a very effective after sales service. We certainly do not abandon our clients once a project is completed and we know it is in our interest to make a site as successful as it can possibly be. If our clients have success – we will have success. To this end we run comprehensive Social Media campaigns after each site launch.”

“The Khusan Real Estate Classifieds portal was one of the most challenging projects we have developed in terms of the enormous number of competitive sites that already exist in this field. Our analysis results have been conclusive – Khusan is the best Real Estate site we have developed – not only of 2010, but of all time. We also feel that the private self-catering holiday portal ‘Easy Holiday Rentals‘ is certainly of equal stature in terms of design – but it was just a hairs width behind in terms of marketing effectiveness.”

Local internet guru Liam Gonçalves finds the whole thing very suspicious and states “Navega Bem are actually voting for a site that they have developed themselves and are only comparing it with their own sites! So whatever, the outcome they would have a website that was voted best Real Estate site of the year.”

It looks as though Liam has hit the nail on the head. Certainly ‘Khusan’ don’t seem to mind, as they have for sometime believed that they have one of best Real Estate Classifieds sites on the whole world wide web.

Khusan is the brainchild of a company in Amsterdam with a high level of know how in the realty market and is tipped to be the new google of property classifieds with an innovative and super fast real estate portal that offers free ad placement to anyone searching for or wanting to advertise their property online.

The Khusan portal is developed around the Drupal CMS framework. Visit Khusan – The International Real Estate Classifieds Portal here.

Ô Hotels & Resorts has launched a new portal promoting the Portuguese regions of Vimeiro and Monfortinho. Four character hotels in these regions have come together under a unique, single standard of excellence.

Hotel Golf Mar, Hotel das Termas, Hotel Astoria and Hotel Fonte Santa are now offering a perfect balance between adventure, discovery and well-being, lying at the heart of a rich heritage of protected landscapes.

The Ô Hotels & Resorts portal has been developed by Navega Bem – Web Design, which is a full service digital marketing, development and web design agency based on Madeira island, Portugal.

Chris Szabo, MD of Navega Bem explained “We are very pleased that we were chosen to develop this project. The design was created by one of Portugal’s leading brand and communication company’s ‘Brandia Central’ and our brief was to bring the portal to life. We were able to add our own innovations and the project has come together in a very structured and transparent way. Our software engineer Diego has been responsible for the project and has demonstrated a very high level of professionalism in bringing this project to fruition.”

“We have developed the site with Joomla! 1.5 and K2.
Joomla! is a dynamic portal engine and content management system.
K2 is a powerful content component for Joomla! with CCK-like features developed by JoomlaWorks.
The way K2 integrates into Joomla has given us a powerful hotels portal that is very user friendly and will be simple to maintain by the hotels.”

“The Ô Hotels & Resorts portal is available in 4 languages. This is not ordinarily an easy task in any CMS framework, but we use Joom!Fish. This is a sophisticated extension for Joomla! and it allows us to present a website in multiple languages easily.”

“Any web project using Joomla! that requires content in different languages and processes which help to keep track of the translations will find that the Joom!Fish extension does exactly this.”

Visit the new Ô Hotels & Resorts portal here.

Joomla 1.6 Tutorial issue 5 is now available at shops and Kiosks within Portugal. Exame Informática, Portugal´s leading IT Magazine is featuring a monthly tutorial which has been authored by Navega Bem – Web Design, based on Madeira island.

The magazine issues so far have covered installing Joomla! 1.6 and local server software as well as how to create a template and add navigatation, images and other content. Site authentication, user management, adding search, adding news articles and breadcrumbs as well as the functionality of the Access Control List (ACL).

This current issue covers the main differences between Joomla! 1.5 and Joomla! 1.6.

The long awaited Joomla! version 1.6 is now available in Beta 8 and packs some digital punches in terms of all round improvements to what has become one of the most powerful CMS frameworks on the planet.

Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 7 release on August 9, Joomla has fixed approximately 90 issues in the tracker. This progress is directly related to the continued efforts of the Joomla! Bug Squad.

Learn more about how Joomla! can help your web presence here.

If you are a web developer, you will find all the info you require at http://www.joomla.org

The easier it gets, the more difficult we find it! This amusing yet contradictory conclusion made by a frustrated house seller is not as far from the truth as it may appear.
Today we have an enormous choice of websites and portals that profess to be the perfect choice for property buyers and sellers. But as in any industry the claims often do not live up to the reality. So what is it that makes for a highly functional and user friendly property classifieds website?

We looked in detail at one of the new upstarts that claims to be the next best thing the on the digital Real Estate market. These are our findings about Khusan:

Khusan – This is the new international kid on the block and features a very user friendly interface. Focus is on ‘For Sale by Owner’ and is certainly simplistic in its approach but incorporates an advanced search that is quite ingenious. Khusan does not only have free classifieds for ‘offered’ Real Estate but also ‘wanted’ listings. So why doesn’t Khusan feature in the best portal compilations?

Everything is in a name. The name Khusan sounds like something you might say when someone sneezes. Khusan is actually the derivation of the word ‘house’. O.E. Hus “dwelling, shelter, house,” from P.Gmc. *khusan (cf. O.N., O.Fris. hus, Du. Huis, Ger. Haus), of unknown origin, perhaps connected to the root of hide (v.). (Source: http://www.etymonline.com/). Yes, very original!

The Khusan home page is simply too… simple. Yes, often a little means a lot – but this homepage doesn’t give you many choices at all. Create an Ad or Search for Property. I can’t help but feel that Khusan is just too similar to another site that also does not feature in the top Property Classified Portals… Google!

User friendliness is one of the major success factors of any website. Property buyers like to wade through different pages and get a feel for a classifieds website. They like to dig down into listings and then climb back out again. This is certainly where Khusan does not stick to convention. With Khusan you can get to any property listing in 2 clicks. This just takes the fun out of surfing. We do not believe this will motivate anyone to return to the portal nor will it create a new trend. Web surfing is not about jumping on a surfboard only to find that you are already on the beach.

The individual property listing page is probably where we have to draw a line and say ‘there is no such thing as a free dinner”. Property details are attractively displayed on one single page. They include the owner contact details, a generous description, property features, a photo gallery with up to 8 images and to conclude the page a Google map is incorporated showing the exact location (if required). All this and it’s allegedly FREE? The owners of Khusan maintain the listings are completely free and will remain so. In my experience, when you ‘pay’ to advertise a property and get this kind of professional service – it feels good and you know you are getting value for money. But when it’s free – it just kinda makes me feel something is not quite right.

In conclusion we have to agree that Khusan does not belong in the list of best Real Estate and Property Classifieds Portals. Why are they offering more and more classifieds each and every day? Why are people form all around the world deciding to advertise their properties with Khusan? Obviously, it’s because Khusan is new and going through that ‘curiosity’ phase. It seems too good to be true so people are using it. But let’s face it – we’ve seen all this happen before. Kind of reminds me of Google!

Joomla 1.6 Tutorial issue 4 is now available at shops and Kiosks within Portugal. Exame Informática, Portugal´s leading IT Magazine is featuring a monthly tutorial which has been authored by Navega Bem – Web Design, based on Madeira island.

The magazine issues so far have covered installing Joomla! 1.6 and local server software as well as how to create a template and add navigate, images and other content. Site authentication, user management, adding search, adding news articles and breadcrumbs.

This current issue covers the functionality of the Access Control List (ACL). This specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed to be performed on given objects.

The long awaited Joomla! version 1.6 is now available in Beta 6 and packs some digital punches in terms of all round improvements to what has become one of the most powerful CMS frameworks on the planet.

Since the Joomla 1.6 beta 5 release on Jun 12, the Joomla Project has fixed approximately 98 issues in the tracker.

Team Navega Bem wishes all its friends and partners a happy holiday!

Learn more about how Joomla! can help your web presence here. If you are a web developer, you will find all the info you require at http://www.joomla.org

This charming Madeira Quinta that was built in the 18th century has become Madeira islands most sought after luxury botanical garden hotel.

During the Napoleonic wars General Beresford, Commander of the British forces on the island chose it as his residence. His magnificent sideboard, a reminder of his stay, still adorns the majestic dining room.

Today the Quinta, with 31 double rooms, 4 historical Junior Suites and 5 Premier Suites, all facing south to the gardens and the blue Atlantic ocean, have been lovingly designed to offer the best accommodation in modern functionality and traditional comfort and style, for a luxury holiday in Madeira Island.

The exclusive property is the favoured location for many celebrities and heads of state. A long list of prominent guests include Mr. Helmut Schmidt, ex-Chancellor of Germany. Sir. Peter O’Toole (a legend in the world of cinema). President of the European Parliament Dr. Durão Barroso and Dr. Alberto João Jardim, President of the Madeira Government. Local rumours also tell of many visits by Madonna, but discretion on the part of the hotel leaves us unable to confirm this.

This elegant Madeira Hotel has now launched its new website and invites the curious and potential guests alike to visit the site and see in great detail what it is that makes Quinta Jardins do Lago such a special and beautiful choice for a holiday retreat. This is without exception one of, if not the top ‘Quintas da Madeira’.

The new web presence has been carefully crafted by Navega Bem – Web Design, a full service digital marketing, development and web design agency which is also based on Madeira island, Portugal.

Navega Bem’s MD and Creative Director Chris Szabo explained “we have always admired Quinta Jardins do Lago since it was first opened. We were very honoured to be asked to develop the new website and we hope we have done this amazing botanical garden hotel justice with our efforts. We have spent many a day on the property – officially for research motives – but in all honesty it is just a wonderful and calming place to be.”

“The website has been developed around the Open Source framework and content management system Joomla! Now that the initial phase is complete and the site has been published online, we will add additional languages and focus on achieving the best possible ranking in the search engines.”

To visit the new website of Quinta Jardins do Lago and enter an elegant world of Comfort, Charm and Beauty – go to www.jardinsdolago.com

Joomla 1.6 Tutorial issue 3 is now available at shops and Kiosks within Portugal. Exame Informática, Portugal´s leading IT Magazine is featuring a monthly tutorial which has been authored by Navega Bem – Web Design, based on Madeira island. The magazine issues so far have covered installing Joomla! 1.6 and local server software as well as how to create a template and add navigate, images and other content.

This current issue covers themes such as site authentication, user management, adding search, adding news articles and breadcrumbs.

The long awaited Joomla! version 1.6 is now available in Beta 4 and packs some digital punches in terms of all round improvements to what has become one of the most powerful CMS frameworks on the planet.

Team Navega Bem is currently visiting various corporate groups to make a presentation about Social Media and Networking.

Learn more about how Joomla! can help your web presence here. If you are a web developer, you will find all the info you require at http://www.joomla.org