How-To Video: Create a New Site

posted by kevin on 9/4/2008 at 9:56 AM

This is the first of many how-to videos that we'll be creating.  In this video, we demonstrate the simple 3-step process of creating your customized website with XL Communities.  Upcoming videos will demonstrate features of our product, such as creating an event, using the Premium Services wizards, and much more.

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2008 Qtr 3 is Live

posted by kevin on 9/2/2008 at 11:25 PM

We've been working hard on adding exciting new features and we're happy to say that the latest version of XL Communities (2008 Qtr 3) is now live on our servers.  The focus of this release was to add greater flexibility to some features and give you the opportunity to promote more interaction on your sites.

Blogs

Now you can increase the interaction on your site by allowing your members to blog and provide news on your site.  We've added a Blog section to every user's profile page and it's very simple to create new posts and have them available on the site's Member Blogs page.  Take a look at the screen shots below.








Custom Payment Pages

We've always allowed you to accept payments for memberships, events and teams.  Now you can create custom pages for any type of payment that you can think of.  Want to accept donations for things like scholarships, hardships, unexpected emergencies, etc?  Now you can and it's very easy and completely customizable.  You can even determine if the amount is fixed or determined at the time of payment.  There's a million ways you can use this new feature and we can't wait to see all of the great ideas.  In the Admin Tool, look for the "Custom Payment Pages" link near the bottom.  Here's a screen shot.



Photo Galleries

We've spruced up the photo galleries with a very cool photo viewer.  Check out the screen shot below and then take a look at your galleries.  Don't have any photos uploaded yet?  Get on it as this is a great way to show everyone how great your group is.



Team Enhancements

We've heard from you that you need more flexibility with the team roster questions and we think you'll like what we've done.  You can now choose to show or hide the standard questions and add as many custom questions as you feel are necessary.  You can even decide what type of response you want from your users.  Simple Yes/No question, choose a radio button.  Have more options, try the drop down box.  Play around with it and let us know what you think.



Bug Fixes / Enhancements

In addition to the items we've mentioned above, we've made some other minor enhancements that we'll write additional blog posts about in the future.  We also fixed some minor bugs that popped up throughout the quarter.  We want to continue to give you the best possible product so please let us know if you find anything that we missed.

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XL Communities and College Football - Bringing You and Your Fellow Fans Closer Together

posted by julie on 8/26/2008 at 10:44 PM

Just in time for football season, XL Communities launches it's latest version that's the perfect solution for you and your game-watching crew.  If you're just like the rest of us, the minute that 4th quarter counts down to the last second, you're, doing the play by play of the game in your head, anticipating  next week's game, and perhaps wishing that you could share these thoughts with other fans and get feedback.

Enter the World of Blogging.  XL Communities allows you to create your own fan site complete with individual member profiles and yes, now the ability for each member to blog about everything and anything from how they think the team performed, their favorite players, the amazing tailgate party they had…you get the point.  

Don’t have time to write a whole blog post?  Just have one quick comment that you’d like to get out there?  You can also use the message boards within your site to communicate with and get feedback from other members.  Much like a chatroom, message boards can be an outlet for some, or an informative tool for others.  For example, if I am  extremely frustrated with one particular play that happened during the third quarter, I write “I can’t believe John Smith dropped the ball in the 3^rd.  What a waste.”  Someone replies, “I know!  My 90yr old Grandma could’ve caught that!”  This could go on and on, potentially involving all members of your fan site.

XL Communities gets to the core of social networking.  We’ve given YOU the power to create your own social networking site.  Whatever your interest may be – be it football or ballet – you can create a networking site for it here, invite others to join, and voila!, you and your friends now have a new home on the Internet.

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Just the Beginning

posted by kevin on 8/26/2008 at 11:21 AM

You've probably heard of the old saying "Cobblers children have no shoes."  Well, that has certainly held true for XL Communities.  We spend all of our time working on, you guessed it, your sites, not ours.  When it comes to the totum pole of important tasks, making your experience and that of your members has and always will come first with us.

However, this new blog is the beginnings of making sure we spend some time telling you about what's going on with our company as we continue to make XL Communities better and better.  We want you to know what we're working on, and get your input on what you think are priorities for each quarterly release. 

We'll introduce you to new features with video how-tos, show you how other groups are using the sofware, and give you some insight into who we are from a personal perspective.  That's our goal anyway.  Make sure to let us know how we're doing.

Kevin, Co-founder

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