Have you ever wanted to make your own social network? It is probably much easier than you think. All you need to know is where to look.  Whether you want to start a dating site or a collaboration community, chances are that the tools you need are already out there. Why pay a lot of money to web developers to make a costly web application from scratch, when you can use and customize the social networking scripts that have proven to work well?

Listed here are the best solutions for inexpensive web development for online communities and social networks available today. Take a look, see which one of these sites best suits your needs, and start building your very own social network today!

1. Ning

   Anyone looking over the options for social networking development will quickly realize that Ning is the king. Even though the company stopped offering free products since April 2010, everything indicates that Ning still supports the largest number of sites.

   Basically, Ning incorporates a number of separately available technologies in a single unified, hosted, user managed platform. It integrates a blog, wiki, forum, photo/video gallery, “latest activity” micro feed, events calendar and member manager. Extended functionality allows you to add widgets, form sub groups and organize projects. Ning’s interface is user-friendly on both member and administrator end. There are many ways in which you can fine tune the look and feel of your site.

   Ning offers a solid product that provides most of the features a social network site should have. If what you need is the most basic of sites, then Ning’s lowest tier may be a good option. However, if you require more advanced features, Ning does not come cheap. there are still plenty of free or less expensive options out there.
   

2. Elgg

   Elgg is a free, open source CMS that has been online sine 2004. Over the years, the community has grown and now boasts a rather active set of users. With a plugin repository of over 1000 available plugins and a huge selection of themes, Elgg has quickly become the go to CMS for open source social networking.

   Similar to Drupal in that it is more of a content management framework than a CMS, Elgg provides the foundation to build a powerful social networking  website and you get to customize it by adding modules and setting up plugins. At first Elgg can seem very basic, but the real power of the system comes from the ways it can be extended and built upon. You decide what will be added, how it will be configured and as you add the individual plugins, the system begins to take on the form of full fledged social networking CMS.

3. Grou.ps

   Grou.ps is a big player among social network providers. If you have a complex project and require special additional plugins, you will find that Grou.ps have covered pretty much every feature you might desire in a social network. Their system is robust and functional, interface is user friendly and they provide good customer support.

   Free account gives you 100MB of storage, 500MB bandwidth and is limited to 25 members. If you want more options, there are different pricing plans.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

4. Groupsite

   Groupsite is different from other sites on this list whose main focus is on social networking. Groupsite is more of a hybrid between social and professional networking, and it emphasizes collaboration and project completion. It offers many unique features including separate public and professional user profiles, user objectives and personal networking and last but not least, a very extensive event/calendar solution.

   Unfortunately, there is one big downside to Groupsite – it doesn’t leave much room to creativity in customization. The layout and design are fixed, and although you can change the colors and put your own banners, you are stuck with the basic layout and menu order.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

5. Boonex

   Boonex Dolphin is another open source Social Networking system based on the PHP scripting language and MySQL database software under the GPL license. It includes blogs, events, groups, video chat, video messenger, players, mobile app, desktop app, files, media sharing, store, profiles, friends, boards, media sharing, store, and files sharing. It also features paypal supported affiliate management, which makes it ideal to use as a dating script.

   A word of warning: Boonex does not have a coding standard, which causes a lot of bugs in the system. So unless you are a programmer and know how to work on fixing and adjusting the code, you may want to look at other options.
   

6. SocialGO

   SocialGO is a very attractive DIY solution for creating your own social networking site. Its interface is user friendly, has tab-based navigation, and offers a wide array of features, even in the free version (Forums, SubGroups, Photos and Events).

   If you don’t need more than 1GB of storage and are happy with 10GB Bandwidth, then the free Ad supported account is for you. However, if you want additional options, such as the ability to use your own domain name, your advertising instead of SocialGO‘s, expanded layout features, unlimited storage/bandwidth, etc, you will need to upgrade to premium account.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

7. Sprūz

   Sprūz is another service worth looking into if you are searching for a social networking solution. It features very powerful tools for customizing themes and layouts, and an easy to use drag and drop style editor. User profiles even have the option to add custom fields to user permissions/roles administration. However, there are a few disadvantages: the forums are not threaded, and subgroups can’t create group events, house group photos, or subscribe to group forum posts.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

8. Wall.fm

   Wall.fm If you want to make a private social network, or an online community that focuses on specific groups of people (clubs, people who play a certain game, a hobby, etc.) rather than a general social network, then Wall.fm is an excellent option. It is the free, hosted version of an open source social networking software called Oxwall, which you can opt to install on your own domain. Depending on the features you want you can choose between the free and paid options.

   Wall.fm has been called the walled Facebook. All you can do on Facebook you can do here as well: content can be tagged and commented on, and you can  participate in forums, blogs and wikis. However, it provides high privacy, so it is ideal for these social interactions that are not suitable to a site as general as Facebook, and also convenient for educators who want their students to interact in a safe and secure setting, free from any kind of distraction.

   

9. ONEsite

   ONEsite Platform offers a rich community experience with Blogging, Photo and Video Sharing, Tagging, Rating, Flagging, Commenting, Built-in Messaging, and Groups. Their Widget and API libraries let you integrate the ONEsite community with  existing Web properties, search, registration, and authentication systems.

   A subsidiary of Catalog.com, ONEsite has a staff of 40, including developers, designers, systems operations, and their own in-house customer support and service center. They will give your project personal attention and work with you on its concept, design, implementation, and launch.

10. SocialEngine

    SocialEngine is a social net­work system that will let you start a self-hosted social net­work. Based on Zend Frame­work, it is quite easy to customize.

    If you are looking for an application that is affordable then this is a good bet, and one of the better options available on the market today. Priced at $250 for a license, SocialEngine also has a number of plugins which can be installed and configured for use. Plugins are available for between $30 to $50  depending on the plugin.

    

11. phpFox

    phpFox is another online community software packed with features. It is very easy to install and comes with out of the box functionality. The core phpfox script is well written and unencrypted, but you will need to know php and mysql to customize it.

    phpFox interface is simple and features pretty much everything you would need. It has a great events calendar; however, there is no video chat or phone. Priced at $300, it is still another inexpensive alternative.

    

12. Pearse Street

    If you would like to have a professional team handling your project, check out Pearse Street. It has been providing social media services since 2005, giving its clients professionally designed and programmed new media solutions, from social media marketing campaigns to blog development to large-scale social networking websites. Their portfolio is quite impressive.

    Pearse Street‘s biggest advantage in the world of web giants is that they are small enough to give you personalized attention, and yet large enough to be able to easily address the many aspects of your project, including graphic design, advanced programming and marketing support.

Finally, one word of warning as to the cost involved: Unless you opt for a free, open source script, most of the networking software will have a price tag attached to it. Keep in mind that even though you pay the initial fee for a license, you will have to pay extra for all the other things: additional apps and plugins, ads removal, branding removal, etc. So the final price can easily go up to $100 per month, or even more. But don’t despair, and don’t stop here. Do your own research and find the solution that best suits your needs and your budget.

Whether you are looking to set up an internet shop, or take an existing business online, you’ll be surprised to find how many e-commerce solutions there are to choose from. Most of them offer standard shopping cart features, plus additional marketing tools and administration panel to help you keep track of products, orders, customers, shipping, etc. Depending on the  particular requirements and the size of your business, you will want to compare a few of these services in terms of what they can offer you.

The most important thing to watch out for is  whether your e-commerce service provider is PCI-compliant. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard is a joint creation of Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. In response to the growing severity of credit card theft, the PCI Standard was created with the goal of protecting cardholder data wherever it may reside. The PCI has developed industry wide standards for card data security to be followed by both merchants and providers alike. Compliance with PCI Data Security Standard is highly recommended for all on-line stores.

1. Volusion

   Volusion is a premium, award-winning e-commerce software, featured in PC Mag and other media and used by major companies like Disney and Motorola. In short, Volusion allows you to build and manage an online store to effectively sell products and services on the Internet. A low cost merchant account is integrated with over 35 Gateways.

   Volusion’s flexibility, power, ease of use and price make it great for small businesses, but it has the infrastructure and expertise necessary to meet the demands of a larger company. Many business owners find that as they grow and become more successful online, their use of bandwidth increases along with their sales revenue. Volusion will not compensate for this by charging you a percentage of your sales, but only charges a minimal monthly fee for the hosting of your online store, while additional bandwidth is available for only $0.007/MB.

   Volusion

2. CoreCommerce

   CoreCommerce is an award-winning, feature-packed e-commerce software that apart from the standard options also provides search engine optimization, one page checkout, and integration with third parties, such as QuickBooks, Facebook, UPS Worldship, and more. Store administration is easy to customize and design, and the control panel is integrated with over 26 payment gateways, all kinds of credit cards, multiple currency support, fully-integrated shipping options, order management, customer tools, etc.

   CoreCommerce offers several pricing plans, starting at 29,99 per month, and all pricing plans include all the features. They also offer a free trial.

   CoreCommerce

3. BigCommerce

   BigCommerce is one of the most trusted names in e-commerce business. They protect your store and data with the same military-grade security and encryption that the big banks use, and have a 99.99% average uptime track record.BigCommerce includes dozens of built-in marketing tools to drive traffic to your online store, including advanced search engine optimization, Google product export and the ability to sell your products on Facebook. It’s very easy to customize. Business owners can choose from over 60 store designs and use the Drag & Drop Design Mode to customize the layout of their store while designers have full access to HTML and CSS via FTP, as well as QuickEdit and different tools.

   You can sell products online easily even without any prior experience. The getting started wizard helps you get your online store and shopping cart up fast and there are dozens of step-by-step videos if you get stuck.

   With over 25 business intelligence reports built in (such as top selling products and average revenue per order), BigCommerce helps you make better decisions which mean more money in your pocket with less work.

   But best of all, there are no transaction fees — ever! Big Commerce never charge transaction fees and have no hidden costs. What you see really is what you get.

   BigCommerce

4. Interspire

   Interspire Shopping Cart is a non-hosted version of BigCommerce, an all-in-one e-commerce and shopping cart software platform that includes absolutely everything you need to sell online and attract more customers using the power, reach and affordability of the Internet.

   Interspire offers an opportunity for web developers and designers to get full access to the source code and easily customize HTML-and-CSS-only store designs. They can create new stores for clients in record time using Interspire software.

   From expert search engine optimization to powerful merchandising features and unique built-in marketing tools to drive more traffic to your online store, Interspire Shopping Cart guarantees you’ll generate more sales by committing to give you your money back if they don’t deliver.

   Interspire

5. eStore Advanced

   eStore Advanced will provide you with a cart, a merchant account, secure payment gateway and unlimited use web hosting. They offer an affordable, easy to use, high powered shopping cart system that includes numerous useful features for your business administration, product management, marketing and promotion, order management shipping and tax, reports, etc.

   They also offer in depth marketing services and guarantee a top 30 ranking on the major search engines. eStore Advanced customer support is exceptional, and they are very flexible in terms of accommodating your individual needs by customizing the software or shop design just for you, free of charge.

   eStore Advanced has fully integrated the Drop Ship Access program into it’s shopping cart code. This implementation gives you the ability to quickly and easily add as many products to your store as you want. You can add as many of your own products as you like then supplement your product offerings with products offered by DSA or set up a store to just sell products offered by DSA.

   

   eStore Advanced

6. 3DCart

   3D Cartis one of the most complete website e-commerce solutions, with over 100 features designed to grow your online business. Easy-to-use web-based administration enables you to customize your website and online shop, no graphic design or programming necessary. Additional plugins such as Livechat, Quickbooks integration and ROI tracking give you the competitive edge in an ever increasing market.There are many features to help you run the shop, from strorefront design, promotion and marketing, product management, order processing, statistics and reporting, shipping and payment, etc.

   3DCart

7. Avactis

   Avactis Shopping Cart is another software package that allows you to open an online store on the Internet. Compared to other similar e-commerce solutions, Avactis allows for a fast and easy integration of an online store into an existing website without any programmer’s knowledge or skills. Unlike other shopping cart software, Avactis is integrated into your website, instead of integrating your website into the online store.

   The client side (the storefront) is your website as seen by visitors. The Avactis’ client side allows the visitors to your site to browse products in the online store, select products and put them into the shopping cart, as in a conventional supermarket, and then pay for the selected products using a credit card or other payment options. The Avactis’s administrator side allows you to stock up the store with products, as a conventional warehouse, maintain the inventory, track orders and payments.

   

   Avactis

8. Shopster

   Shopster is a free merchant network that lets you build a free online store, connect to other merchants, find dropship products to sell and sell your own products through new channels. What makes Shopster special is that you can find products from hundreds of different free dropshippers in one place. Get your products in front of thousands of retailers who sell online. Connect with a few or connect with them all – you choose who you build business relationships with. The Shopster platform provides you with a free marketplace and resources to get your products sold.Their online store is customizable, integrated with PayPal, E-bay listing and auction manager. Basic merchant account is free. For more information, watch the video.

   Shopster

9. Vendio

   Vendio is another award-winning platform that has been supporting the needs of online sellers for over 10 years. Similar to Shopster in that it lets you reach buyers where they are shopping, without forcing you to learn a different interface for each online channel. Whether you are a seasoned online sales veteran, or just a beginner, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution that enables you to share inventory with eBay, Amazon and more, which means it makes it easy to build and run your online ecommerce business no matter where your buyers shop.

   No programing knowledge necessary to set-up the ecommerce solution you need in minutes. Once you create your items you can sell them  through multiple marketplaces without complication. There are no hosting fees, listing fees, or final value fees.

   Vendio

10. Summer Cart

    Summer Cart is 100% SEO Shopping Cart Software, with search engine friendly URLs, SEO keywords on every page, automatic generation of sitemaps, etc. The store setup wizard makes it easy to setup your store quickly. The admin panel is very functional, offering useful sorting, filtering and search options, and easy product tracking and management.

    Summer Cart offers numerous payment & checkout options, multi-language support, and 39 automatically updated currencies. It allows for product comparison by attributes, product ratings and reviews, in-stock and out-of-stock tracking, and many other really handy options.

    

    Summer Cart

Technorati Tags: e-commerce, e-store, e-shop, ecommerce, internet-shopping, online-services

With the ongoing growth of the Internet, trends in website hosting and design have seen significant progress in terms of quality of services offered and their value for money. Today only those who are not well informed still pay huge amounts of money to web designers and then later spend a fortune in monthly fees for a webmaster to update their website. Fortunately, there is no need for that anymore. Easy online website design is available to anyone.

Now there are quite a few online services that offer free website builders, quick and complete website solutions, fully customizable and designed not only to accommodate every customer need, but to suit every pocket. Actually, most of the services listed here offer a free basic account that still lets you take advantage of numerous features of a professionally designed web site.

1. Wix

   Wix is a simple yet powerful platform to make flash websites, myspace layouts, widgets, newsletters, banners, flyers, etc. No downloads or programming needed. With a simple click, drag and drop you can arrange the layout of your pages, their design and content. Although Wix websites are flash, they are fully compatible with search engines. You can host your own domain, and hosting is also free. Wix seems to be geared towards the designers, photographers and musicians.

   Wix

2. Homestead

   Homestead is one of the pioneers in quick and complete website solutions, and they’ve stayed on top by keeping up with the trends. They offer a comprehensive solution for various online needs. With their award winning website building software, affordable web hosting and toll-free customer support, Homestead makes it easy to build a website. They also offers several types of inexpensive e-commerce solutions, so you can build an e-business from scratch, or easily take your existing business online.

   

   Homestead provides everything you need, including online catalogs, shopping cart, real-time transaction processing, integration with eBay, custom shipping tables, support for instant PayPal payments and much more. And if you need real-time credit card processing, high-end inventory management or sophisticated supply chain communication, a Homestead Storefront can meet your needs.

   Most impressive are the online tools to help you increase your website traffic. Homestead SearchLight package uses advanced website promotion techniques, including search engine submissions and advertising on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

   Homestead

3. Site Build It!

   If you are looking for a way to set up your small business online, and have little or no experience on the Internet, Site Build It! is probably the best solution. It is a reputable company that has been online since 1997, helping hundreds of thousands of regular people build online businesses.

   Site Build It! is the all-in-1 package designed specifically for small business owners. It gives you the tools necessary to create a professional online presentation of your business and provides a platform to easily run your web site and online sales. Step-by-step video and written instructions guide you every step of the way. Overall, it is very easy to use, point and click through any web browser.

   You can get SBI! 2.0 for USD $299 for one full year, or for US $29.99 per month. All SBI! software updates are free and automatic. Support and business-building assistance are available 24×7, and there are the “help and be helped” SBI! forums, a very active community of success oriented entrepreneurs.

   Site Build It!

4. Weebly

   Weebly was featured in many popular newspapers and magazines, and was named one of TIME’s 50 Best Websites of the year in 2007. Its powerful drag & drop editor makes it easy to build a website in minutes, there are many content elements, powerful blogging features, and hosting is included in the FREE account. Best of all, there is no advertising. You can even host your own domain at no extra charge.

   Weebly

5. Get My Website

   Get My Website is one of the big guys in the business. They have multiple solutions to fit various individual needs, like alumni, community, real estate, restaurant, church, etc. Each website type has specific built in widgets, such as calendar, coupons, directory, and shopping cart which utilize databases to maintain the information you enter. The content management system is so easy to use that you have the ability to create and maintain custom pages.

   Get My Website is successful also because their customer support is really good, and can be reached on a toll free number or by email. If you want to try them out, go for the free website trial offer.

   
   
   

   Get My Website

6. Webs

   Webs offers three different website types: personal, business, and organization (group), and over 300 templates to choose from.  Once you make your website, you can easily add a blog, forum, calendar, photo gallery, video gallery and much more. You can even turn your site into a social network, add members and create personal profiles so you can turn your site into a community where friends, colleagues and family can connect and collaborate. If you need to set up a web store, you can upload multiple images, set your prices, and collect payment via PayPal and/or Google Checkout.

   

   Webs

7. Yola.com

   Yola offers critically-acclaimed, easy-to-use tools and web hosting in free and paid packages. Yola free builder will still allow you to make professional looking websites. It comes with a variety of built-in features. You can choose from over 100 customizable website templates, add online forms, google maps, pictures, videos, etc. Furthermore, the Yola widgetbox provides more than 60,000 widgets so you can pimp up your site nicely. The only downside relates to Yola shopping cart; you can only use PayPal to sell items. Finally, Yola offers great customer support with online tutorials, videos, and webinars. They also offer 24/7 online help available on every web hosting plan.

   
   UPDATE:
   Black Friday Weekend Special – Get 40% off Yola Silver with coupon code THANKS40! Create a professional site for just $5/month! Ends 11/28

   Yola

8. Viviti

   Among the easy website builders, Viviti stands out as the easiest one. It was designed to let you edit your website while looking at it, right in your browser.

   Viviti serves personal blogs, small business websites, news portals, bands, churches, pet groomers, artists, musicians, etc. With over 175 themes and a huge selection of applications and widgets, they are enabling people to create and maintain great looking dynamic websites.

   Viviti

9. XSitePro

   This is one website builder with quite a following. XSitePro is a powerful website designer software product, easy enough for the beginners, and geared toward business owners, affiliate marketers, adsense site builders, website designers, educational users, information marketers, etc. Straightforward design interface gives you complete page control, there are hundreds of website templates, and there is no limit to how many sites you can create.

    

   XSitePro

10. SnapMonkey

    SnapMonkey claims to offer more features than any other site builder on the Internet. Among those are multimedia, calendar, contacts, feedback forms, mailing lists, message boards, Q&A page, redirects page, polling booth,  etc, etc. You can choose from over 1200 pre-formatted templates, and there is an integrated shopping cart that accepts PayPal or credit card processing.

    
    

    
    SnapMonkey

Technorati Tags: web-design, hosting, web-services, e-business, e-commerce, marketing, online-tools, website, design

The making of this top list was a slow and gradual process that gave me a lot of pleasure. The ten websites listed here differ greatly in theme and structure, but one thing they do have in common is that they stand out with their amazing concept and design, stretching the limits of digital culture and internet art.

Having stumbled upon them while surfing the net, and being the obsessive label-er that I am, the only tag I could think of was “fascinating”. And that is big coming from someone who doesn’t get fascinated easily. So naturally, I made a new folder in my Favorites, titled “Fascinating”, and decided I was going to publish this list the moment it gets 10 entries. That moment, dear friends, has arrived. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Oh, and by the way, most of these websites are built with rich flash animation, so make sure you have fast internet connection when you check them out.

1. 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein

   Designed by David Clark, this website is an interactive collage of philosophy and art, a poetic film based on the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, an influential Austrian philosopher. Based on 88 interactive flash animations that correspond to 88 constellations of the sky, this is a map of coincidence and relativity through which you can navigate and explore the poetic narratives that play with free associations. It is a story of Wittgenstein’s life told in fragments, and brought to life in contemporary digital culture.

   

   88 Constellations

2. A is for Apple

   This is another creation of internet artist David Clark, and similar in that it is also a collage of interactive fragments, a mind map of clues that signal a mystery that may or may not be there. All I know is that the search itself is worth the time.

   

   A is for Apple

3. CONCEPD

   Concepd is much more than a website. It is meant to be a “websight”, providing the user with a totally visual experience, a journey for the mind and the eye, spread between digital and physical worlds.

   

   Concepd

4. We Choose the Moon

   If you were ever curious about space travel, here is your chance to experience it in real time. This is an ambitious online project backed by the Space Program of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The website is divided into 11 stages containing animation, archival photos, video and mission audio that bring Apollo 11 to life.

   

   Click here to view the video on YouTube.

   We Choose the Moon

5. The Turn

   Designed by Fredo Viola, New York based multimedia artist, this is an extensive interactive collection of his music and video art work.  It is a blending of 21st-century electronics and the human voice presented via multimedia visuals. For a quick preview of Fredo Viola’s work, see this clip.

   The Turn

6. 99 Rooms

   99Rooms is a unique internet art project that interweaves wall painting, photography, animation and sound, made by Kim Koester, Richard Schumann, Stephan Schulz and Johannes Buenemann. It will take you on a journey through 99 hauntingly beautiful rooms, all set on vacated premises of East Berlin’s industrial zone.

   

   99 Rooms

7. Kubrick 2001: The Space Odyssey Explained

   Kubrick’s Space Odyssey 2001 is a cult movie, probably one of the highest regarded films ever made. If you are one of its many fans, you will love this website. It is an interactive multimedia presentation that aims to explain the meanings of the four parts of the film. Available in many languages.

   

   Kubrick 2001: The Space Odyssey Explained

8. OnProduction Melody Sphere

   Music lovers will love this fun website. It is a retro futuristic project for the OnProduction company in Russia. In essence, it is an innovative, interactive  flash game that lets you play and create music online.

   
   OnProduction Melody Sphere

9. 31fps

   31fps is the digital playground of award winning interaction designer and artist Andreas Rothaug. Explore the links, they offer a selection of rich, captivating and truly unique experiences.

   31fps

10. Superpositions

    Superpositions is an interactive audio-visual collage made with night tripping, urban explorations, cycle machines… Created by Remy Rivoire, Renaud Vercey, and Bruno Voillot, it is a virtual journey based on random games and  clues. The interaction can be very dynamic or contemplative, both attitudes generating a distinct perception, a new sound, a new picture.

    
    Superpositions

If anyone’s got more gems to add to this collection, please feel free to post the links in the comments. Thanks.

Technorati Tags: web-art, web design, internet art, digital art, flash, web 2.0, fascinating, interactive, amazing

If you ever spent any time looking at the numerous free wordpress theme sites you have probably come to understand that free themes are  free for a reason. Of course, you can always hire a web designer to create a nice looking website, but designers can be expensive. Premium wordpress themes that can be customized according to your website needs and design requirements are definitely an affordable alternative solution.

Here we take a look at ten premium theme clubs that comply with the highest aesthetic standards and offer a wide variety of features for customization.

1. StudioPress Themes

   Studio Press offers attractive, professional themes that are very easy to use. They are built on the Genesis Theme Framework, a simple looking mother theme which comes with all kinds of built-in features, useful plugins and widgets, and offers maximum flexibility in layout and design. The Genesis theme can be extended and further customized with any one of the 19 child themes. Changing a theme behavior is easy as the Genesis theme settings control the child theme as well. One of the most valuable things about Genesis is that it is packed with SEO specific options to configure, and will help your blog rank higher in the search engines.

   StudioPress stands behind their products 100% and offers excellent support. Customers get access to the StudioPress forum which is supervised by its team, and has a very active global community that ensures your question gets replied to within hours.

   Mashable recently named Genesis the “best of the best” premium WordPress themes.

   BLACK FRIDAY SALE:

   Using the code THANKS at checkout (don’t forget that), you can save 25% off of anything you’d like at WordPress design shop, StudioPress.

   1. Get the Genesis Framework for only $45.

   2. Snag most Genesis / design combos for a song and save close to $20.

   3. Wipe the entire shop clean and get the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package. Get Genesis plus every design they’ve made, plus every design they make in the future, and save more than $74 off the regular price and over $875 off the retail price — and that’s just the existing 43 designs!

   All you need to do is use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save 25% on anything and everything at StudioPress.com.

   This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011. Hurry up and claim your new WordPress theme before the code expires!

   StudioPress

2. Premium Themes

   Premium wordpress themes are among the most expensive ones on the market. The price is justified in that their themes are designed by SEO experts to ensure that your sites get maximum benefit out of the theme. Some of the major benefits are these: page load time is very less compared to other themes, it reduces the load of the server, and most importantly, as the premium wordpress themes are already developed taking search engine optimization factors into consideration, theme helps your site to get listed in search engine automatically.

   You can request your own customized premium wordpress theme with all the above features. New premium wordpress themes are released every moth giving you a huge verity to choose from. Every theme comes with tips, how to use guide and very easy to install feature. Apart from these advantages, Premium wordpress themes come optimized with many features that are easy to run from the control panel even if you are a beginner. It’s easy to upload videos and other multimedia materials, ad rotators are already implemented for you to use, etc.

   We especially recommend their restaurant themes Gourmet and Restaurant, and the tourist related theme called Destination.

   Premium Themes

3. Thesis

   Thesis is without doubt one of the most popular wordpress themes, and it is so for many reasons. First and foremost, it is a theme that allows for an easy customization and design and offers a wide variety of features which can be configured from within the WP control panel. You don’t have to know any html in order to set up your thesis blog, and you are pretty much free to do anything. Aside from being a theme, Thesis is also a framework ideal to build upon, which makes it a great tool for developers.

   Here is a video that explains the basics.

   Thesis

4. Headway

   Headway is another Do-It-Yourself theme that attracts creative bloggers and developers. It allows you to drag and drop your website or blogs layout to easily rearrange content and customize the colors, fonts, and features included in the theme.

   Headway 3.0 has just been released on November 25th.  This is an amazing new product and it comes with Headway Child Themes.

   Headway Themes

5. Rich WP Themes

   Rich WP Themes have several very good themes related to news and magazine sites. Check out their Big News, Blog Beast, Daily News, and Magazine themes. Rich WP Themes are easy to install and maintain, and let you build your website in minutes. You can change the colors, the fonts, modify the content of the front page, all from the options page.

   This video will walk you through the installation process and the option page.

   Rich WP Themes

6. PageLines

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   PageLines

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   Woo Themes

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   Press 75

9. PhotoPressPro

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   PhotoPressPro

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    Theme Spinner

Technorati Tags: word press, premium themes, wp themes, web design

Listed here are the top ten interactive websites that are bound to suck you in with their addictive content. They are unique examples of contemporary internet art based on user interaction, and distinct from games in that there is no goal or win conditioning. One could contextually refer to them as “time-wasters”, but that would be an insult to digital art. I don’t know… Time-wasters or art, you be the judge.

1. Medijate

   Organic green spirit digital work by Larry Carlson, an American multimedia artist. Whichever way you click, you’ll be taken on a mesmerizing, psychedelic ride through the universe of Virtual Om. Enjoy it.

   
   Medijate

2. Feed the Head

   Feed the Head, created by Vector Park, has been around for some time, and it stands for a piece of interactive entertainment of a type we don’t often see. It is more a digital interactive art installation than a game.  It’s just plain fun to play. A piece of interactive art to be explored at your own pace. Spend a couple minutes or an hour. Lose yourself. Feed your head. Escape. Click.

   
   Feed the Head

3. Flow

   Created by Han Hoogerbrugge, a Dutch digital artist known for his unique and eye-catching animation style so representative of MTV media era. Flow is an interactive tale of a contemporary man and his travels trough the landscapes of our time. Sometimes he goes up, sometimes he goes down. By the guidance of the frantic music from Gil Kay, we see the man struggle with faith and religion, sport and health care, stress, the power of medicine, gambling, death, identity, free floating and an eye-ball. It’s an interactive extravaganza.

   
   Flow

4. Spin

   Another creation by Han Hoogerbrugge, designed for Sony/Playstation. The concept centers on the idea that PlayStation 2 is a gateway to another world – the Third Place. This is a mental or spiritual place, which can’t be defined as it’s different for everyone. No one can tell you about your Third Place, you have to discover it for yourself. It is about exploration, discovery and adrenaline. Neither inside nor outside, not waking nor sleeping, here nor there – it is what you make it. The presentation undergoes constant mutation through use/play, and the impossible becomes possible.

   
   Spin

5. Yenz

   This site, created by German designer Jens Schmidt, was born from a ‘wish to create a webpage which allows things which are not usual for the Web, such as full-screen animations and big images, without the problem of bad Web resolution’. As you enter you will find there are many ways to explore and play.

   
   Yenz

6. This Sand

   Designed by Johanna Lundberg and Jenna Sutela in collaboration with the Flash programmer Timo Koro, this website is a playground of colours and sound for people to play with. It is a sandbox – within the computer screen. With a simple click of the mouse, you can change the pixels on the screen into digital sand that can be used as building material for cosmic landscapes, Clemens-style sand paintings, mandalas and so on. Sometimes the resulting pieces are expressive, sometimes they become more abstract. And just as a real world sandbox, the digital one can be smoothed out and re-sculpted again time after time.

   Just like the actual sand gets its colour from its origins, the sand used on thisissand.com covers the RGB palette natural to digital environments. Also the sounds of the falling sand on thisissand.com resemble a real life phenomenon: singing sand is discovered in about 35 desert locations around the world where the wind triggers a low-pitch sound in the natural sand. Instead of nature’s frequencies the digital sand generates white noise, which is a random signal with a flat power density. It is considered analogous to white light which contains all frequencies – like the RGB sand on thisissand.com.

   The specialities of the digital sand lie in the possibility of saving the original pieces of sand art in the gallery or printing them out.

   
   ThisSand

7. Kaleidoscope

   A great online time-waster, virtual kaleidoscope was created by Ze Frank, an American web designer who likes to combine technology and art in his work. Remember the awe you felt the first time you looked through the kaleidoscope lens? The virtual version is more addictive and it works without holding it up and pointing it towards the light. Just drag the shapes and colors onto the rotating wedge and you’ll see the kaleidoscopic patterns appear in color.

   
   Kaleidoscope

8. Glitch Scape

   This is a very interesting experimental web musical instrument designed and programmed by Tomasz Slawnikowski. It is an interactive sound-vision generator that allows the user to create music with a simple click of the mouse marking the pixels to make visual patterns on screen.

   
   Glitch Scape

9. Dream Lines

   Dreamlines is a non-linear, interactive visual experience, a project by Leonardo Solaas. The user enters one or more words that define the subject of a dream he would like to dream. The system looks in the Web for images related to those words, and takes them as input to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association. The pictures are never actually shown. The drawing itself is produced by 1500 autonomous particles in perpetual movement. The last image loaded serves as a sort of virtual terrain for them. The direction and speed of each particle is given, at each step, by the color values of the pixel they are stepping on. Different sets of formulas translate the hue, saturation and brightness of the pixel in angle and velocity values for the particle. The path of each particle is traced to the screen, and this forms the output seen by the user.

   Thus, the work is at the same time a study on population dynamics, or on the emergent behavior of a multitude of very simple autonomous agents. Who is dreaming? The user, or the Internet itself? In a certain way, both. The program generates a personal moving picture, unique, unpredictable, and forever gone when it is finished, just like dreams. But that dream is made out of pieces taken form the subconscious of the whole net, gathered by some words of the user and the obscure logic of searching algorithms.

   The subject of this work is, many times, multiplicity. That of the particles in endless movement, that of the vast contents of the Internet, that of the users and the dreams they wish to dream. All this multiplicities get together on the verge of chaos, on a process that mixes randomness and strict but complex logics, very much alike the processes that take place in our heads. Even when we rest.

   
   Dream Lines

10. Celestia

    Celestia is an amazing free space simulation that lets you see the universe in three dimensions. The exponential zoom feature allows the user to explore space across a huge range of scales seamlessly. A ‘point-and-go-to’ interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. It runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

    

    Click here to view the video on YouTube.

    Celestia

Technorati Tags: time-wasters, internet art, web design, digital art, games, online games, interactive, virtual, web 2.0