11.04.2008 : Board-worx website live

This afternoon www.board-worx.com was launched after being developed using the XML Infinity Integral server. The Board Worx website is the most extended site currently managed by the XML Infinity System with over two dozen different product lines and over two thousand products currently managed within the system. This figure is set to grow significantly through 2008 as the summer season bring a constant stream of new products onto the site.

The project was initiated after deciding to rebrand an existing business, Whitstable Windsurfing, one of the leading Water Sports retailers in the UK. In so doing and realising that the existing technology they were using (a very basic site and CMS) wouldn't allow them to take the new site in the direction they required they spoke to the XML Infinity team about what could be done.

XML Infinity Technical Director, Andrew Fisher, "The Board Worx site was a challenge for the system because of the differences between the lines of products. In 99% of deployments in the retail sector you get a single product template that allows you to generically illustrate certain information about that product and give it a price, however in many cases this is very limiting if you hold distinct product types.

"Information pertinent to a surfboard is completely different to that for a kite surfing board, snow board or indeed a t-shirt or pair of shoes. The Board Worx team were very excited about our idea to create a basic product object and then extend it for the different product lines allowing them complete customisation over the types of products on their site.

"We pride ourselves on our 'One type of CMS doesn't fit all' approach and in this instance have really shown that down to different sections and departments in their business".

This approach did have certain pitfalls including requiring extra training of staff to understand more about the various product types and additionally the time required to produce such a system which was about twice as long as other XML Infinity deployments.

The finished product however, speaks volumes for taking this approach; Mark Tuckwood, Managing Director of Board Worx said, "We've had other management systems in the past and whilst extremely simple, they didn't manage to show off our product as well as it could have. The water sports industry is one of the most web-focussed in retail and for us having a site that will show our product to the best advantage is paramount."

Laid over this bedrock of technology is good design, on this project provided by Smart Design as well as solid web standards compliant front end code. The sites are optimised for the four primary browsers and include AJAX and jQuery elements for clients that can view them with complete backwards compatibility for those that can't.

E-Commerce for this site was implemented in partnership with ProtX and underpins the aim of the XML Infinity team in producing a solid core of technology that dovetails into other partnerships to deliver specialist products or services as needed.

If you'd like more information about how XML Infinity could help your business please get in touch with us at info@xmlinfinity.com

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