Customize

You have probably taken a great deal of time to design and organize your site. You have taken this time to make sure your site design is in parallel with the goals you have. You wouldn't want your site to look like hundreds of other sites, because visitors come to your site for the unique service you provide. Why should it be any different with the software integrated into your site?

Some web based software/scripts lets you change a logo, or make small modifications on the colors. A few others also provide templates to customize the look. However, virtually none of them lets you customize the process and let's you add new functionality. You would have to be a programmer or you would have to hire someone to make any minor change on how these software work.

PM Premium puts you in charge! You can just sit down, draw how your membership site will work on a paper, and then develop what you imagined using the advanced PM Premium tools. No programming knowledge is needed. Any webmaster who can build web sites can also build a custom membership site using these unique tools. Note that HTML knowledge might be needed if you are doing some serious customization.

Customize Data Fields:

Using a wizard in the admin application, you can add your own database fields. You can choose any type of HTML form fields for them.

Customize Templates:

The point of using templates is to separate design from the functionality. On PM Premium you will find that design is complete separated from the low level code. Use your favorite HTML editor such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage to design your pages and upload them to the server.

Use database fields as tags inside templates. For instance, if you add a new database field called education_level, all you need to do is to place an %%education_level%% into any template to pull up the result from the database.

There are also useful special tags, which can be used inside templates. For example, on profile page template, if you place %%counter%% tag, it will start a counter that will increase every time someone visits that profile.

PM Premium administration application has an intuitive template editor. All default template names are given self-descriptive names.

Add New Templates:

As every membership site has different requirements, you might need to add new pages into your member's area. These pages can be functional or they can include your content. You can use template tags, forms or links in these new pages.

Here are some examples as to how you can add new templates:

• Create additional profile pages,
• Split "update info" form into multiple pages,
• Create an FAQ page in your member's area,
• Create a download page in your member's area,
• Create different templates for different membership types,
• Create approval-only informational pages in your member's area,
• Create a picture album,
• Create a preferences page.

Each new template can have restrictions. There are three main template types:
1. Approved Pages: Only available to logged on approved members.
2. Member Pages: Only available to logged on members.
3. Public Pages: Available to public. Such as "profile" page.

Build Template Rules:

Now PM Premium 2 lets you create rules to describe how your membership pages work under different conditions. For instance, you can create multiple membership levels. The rules can be constructed in an easy logical way, so there is no learning curve and no programming knowledge required.

There are so many possible ways you can use Template Rules in your membership pages. Some example ways currently used by PM Premium users (ideas compiled from private support forum):

• To support multiple membership types.
• To create a guest account and restrict some features such as delete and modification pages.
• To disable picture uploads of abusive users.
• To add admin links and features into admin account pages.
• Use different design and logo on pages depending on the place the user graduated (in an Alumni site).
• To let the user choose one of the profile design styles.

Construct Search Engines:

Create search forms for your particular database fields and customize search result pages the way you want it. Search forms can be very simple or advanced, and they support wide variety of features:

• Create multi-field search forms
• Use text fields,
• Use drop down menus,
• Use multi-selection combo boxes,
• Use check boxes,
• Use radio buttons,
• Do keyword searches,
• Define number of results per page,
• Customize result pages,
• Sort results by particular fields,
• Show an icon for online users,
• Show an icon for users with pictures,
• Reverse the results' order,
• Use next links or page number links between result pages.

In summary, PM Premium gives you the tools to build the way you want your membership service to function. Gives you the power to make your site work the way your organization does!