23 07/2010 Contact First

Propeller’s second Expression Engine website, Contact First is a big leap forward in website functionality compared to our standard Textpattern CMS.

Oft described as Textpattern’s Big Brother, the Expression Engine CMS is a commercial, license based system developed by Ellis Labs providing sophisticated out of the box functionality plus an extensive set of modules and add-ons allowing for the addition of discussion forums, e-commerce, galleries and also the possibility of managing multiple websites from one installation.

Contact First Business Solutions was established in 2003. The business concept of offering businesses a ‘one stop’ business solutions shop evolved from Principal Director’s Melanie own real time experience of successfully establishing and growing her UK and Australian businesses. Contact First are better known in the Redlands as operators of the ‘Redlands Business Grow’ program.

Expression Engine was selected for Contact First over Textpattern due mainly to its sophisticated member management capabilities and future expansion possibilities.

Solspace’s superb Freeform module was integrated to provide a more sophisticated enquiry system but also to include polls and questionnaires without the need for external third-party applications. Another Solspace module is employed to provide an advanced Event Calendar, listing details of Contact Firsts’ seminars and programmes with month and day to view as well as downloadable event flyers and links to event contacts and websites.

Contact First includes full details of Contact First’s services, News, Events, a Resources page with downloadable templates, checklists and links to important Government agencies.

Whilst a fairly conservative style was chosen for Contact First, keen eyes will notice subtle differences in the site when viewed in browsers supporting future CSS3 transition effects, text-shadow and RGBa alpha-channel translucency.