ZA200900793B - A method for automated website creation - Google Patents

Description

: TITLE: A METHOD FOR AUTOMATED WEBSITE CREATION

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of online marketing. More specifically, the invention relates to the automated creation and maintenance of websites.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Need

The Inventor is aware that, with the growth in Internet penetration and stakeholder expectations, it is becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes to have an online presence as part of their overall marketing strategy. Having an online presence can yield at least two benefits for small and medium businesses/enterprises ("SMEs"), namely: e increased credibility and an improved company profile; and « additional opportunities to reach new and current markets and to interact with all the business’s stakeholders in an efficient manner.

Credibility

Having a website address and an email address at its own domain creates a more professional image for an SME than not having an online presence, having a website at a subdomain of another organisation or having a free mail address. Many SMEs recognise the need to have a website and email address at their own domain name for increased credibility.

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Stakeholder interaction

Over the last couple of years, there has been a shift from : traditional interruption-based advertising methods that attempt to draw the market's attention and force a message, to content-based marketing where valuable content is made available to a market that is actively seeking the content, with the objective of building trust and credibility with the target market. Having a website provides a business with an opportunity to make information about the business and its products more easily available to the entire online community in a very cost-efficient manner.

To be most effective, a website's content needs to remain relevant and useful to its audience. One of the best ways of ensuring this is to regularly publish information such as news, articles, photos and documents that are of interest to its target audience. Many prominent search engines recognise the importance of current information in their ranking algorithms and key word prominence is generally higher where a website publishes content that is of relevance to its target audience.

It is therefore becoming increasingly important for SMEs to have their own websites that can be used to publish relevant information to the target audience on a frequent basis.

Problem

Even though most SMEs recognise the need to obtain a professional email address and website to market their businesses, it is often difficult, frustrating and/or expensive for them to do so because of the disparate nature of the industry, the jargon and the technicalities.

To have an email address and a website with relevant content at your own domain name on the Internet requires, inter alia, that: an email account be set up on a mail server that is connected to the Internet; that a : hosting account be set up on a computer that is connected to the Internet;

or 1 ® that web pages be designed and updated as needed; and that a domain name be registered with the relevant domain name authority and be set up correctly.

These steps will usually require that a host of technical and business options be considered, including factors such as the technical specifications, architecture, operating system and other software to be installed on the machines hosting the email and websites. DNS considerations, protocols used, security and firewall considerations and disaster recovery are some of the other issues that need to be considered. : Most SMEs do not have the technical expertise required to do this and need assistance, either from a service provider or by using an automated tool.

Using a service provider takes time

The most common solution is for an SME to outsource the website design, domain registration and provisioning of the site and email to a service provider such as their Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) or a web designer. :

There are at least two problems following this route, namely that the SME would need to wait for the service provider to complete the work and that there is typically an upfront cost involved in having a website designed to specification.

Depending on the circumstances, it may also be necessary for the SME to contact the service provider every time that it requires an addition or change to the standing information, such as contact details, news content or the look and feel of the website.

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To avoid the expense and time delays inherent in using a service provider, an automated solution that could create and immediately update such a website is sought.

Design skills are needed to get a high quality website using current tools

There are existing online tools that encompass systems and : methods that allow a website to be automatically created. Examples of such tools in the prior art include Yahoo!™ Sitebuilder and Google™ Sites on the

Internet, as well as the systems and methods described in US patent application number 20080052668 and Australian patent application number 2002100239.

Although these techniques do significantly reduce the technical know-how required to build a website, they typically offer a drag-and-drop interface or a construction/preview window interface where pages and components can be added and preferences can be set. Such an interface : assumes a certain level of familiarity with website design and usually requires the website builder to know which pages he/she wants on the website, how they will inter-link, which elements/components are to appear and/or where they areto be located.

For many SME owners, especially those that are less Internet- savvy, this may be intimidating and the resulting website is likely to be sub- optimal from a layout and design point of view in comparison to a website designed for the SME by a service provider.

Sites and email created using current tools are not hosted at the SME's own domain

It is necessary for online website building tools to offer a place to host the automatically created website for it to be accessible to the

Internet community at large. Prior art tools usually host created sites at a sub-domain and not at a domain name that is selected by the SME, leading to ro ® » a website address that looks less professional. Automatic website creation tools currently offering an option to register a domain name on which a site will be hosted generally come at a cost. Also, this type of registration is almost always provided as an additional and optional service and usually presents an extra manual step in the website creation process.

In addition, the top level domains ("TLDs") that can be- automatically registered to host the websites created via prior art tools are limited. It is, for example, currently impossible for a South African company - 10 to use a website creation tool to automatically create a website hosted under the “.co.za” TLD.

Current tools do not automate content management

Online website creation tools in the prior art typically only allow “static” website pages to be built. Every time the website is maintained, these pages need to be updated manually. Conversely, in websites that are custom- designed by. a service provider, frequently changing information such as news, photos and product prices are usually stored in a database so that it can be easily maintained and automatically displayed on relevant pages in the website.

The Inventor wishes to overcome or at least alleviate these drawbacks and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for automated website creation that aims at addressing the disadvantages of the prior art mentioned above.

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SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer-implemented method for creating a website, the method including: online-collecting of information, including information selected from the group composed of business information, general content and aesthetic preferences; storing the collected information in a database on a computer-readable medium; creating automatically at least one web page based on the business information; setting up hosting for the or each created web page; and registering and setting up of at least one domain name through which the or each hosted web page can be accessed. : The information may be collected through an online wizard interface so that the user would not need to know the site structure or components of the created website upfront.

The method may further include setting up automatically at least one email account at the registered domain. :

The method may further include: setting up automatically login credentials which provide access to a user interface through which content can be provided; creating automatically one or more web pages to display, inter alia, at least some of the content provided; and updating automatically a sitemap file such that the sitemap file at all times appropriately includes the automatically created web pages which relate to content which has been provided via the user interface but excludes those web pages for which no content has been provided through the user : interface.

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The created web pages may include at least one style sheet which reflects at least some of the aesthetic preferences collected. The created web pages may include at least one master page and/or at least one style sheet which reflects a chosen layout or template.

The content provided may include news articles and the created web page may include a page that displays, inter alia, at least some of the content of the news articles. The content provided may include news articles and the created web pages may include one or more pages that publish RSS feeds which reflect the headlines or content of the news articles. The content provided may include photos and the created web pages may include one or more pages that display, inter alia, at least some of the photos. The content provided may include links to external websites and the created web pages may provide, inter alia, hyperlinks to at least one of those external websites. - The content provided may include testimonials and the created web pages may display, inter alia, at least some of the testimonials.

The content provided may include accreditations and the created web pages may display, inter alia, at least some of the accreditations.

The content provided may include uploaded documents and the created web pages may, inter alia, allow a user to download at least some of the uploaded documents. The content provided may include information on products and the created web pages may display, inter alia, at least some of the information on one or more of the products. The created web pages may include a home page that displays, inter alia, extracts of the content provided through the user interface. The content provided may include frequently asked questions with associated answers and the created web pages may display, inter alia, at least some of the frequently asked questions and answers.

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The collected information may include an indication of a business type and different data validation rules may be applied to at least one item of business information collected, depending on the selected business type. An IP address of a user and a related country may be 5) determined and different data validation rules may be applied to items of . information collected, depending on the determined country.

The collected information may include the business's registration : number and the contact details relating to the business may be automatically extracted from, or validated against, information collected from a website which provides to the public access to such information. The collected information may include a selection of one or more layouts or templates. The collected information may include the selection or upload of at least one banner image. The collected information may include the selection or upload of a business logo. The collected information may include the selection of at least one colour and/or font in respect of one or more individual classes of k text for use on the website, and the colour and/or font may be selected through the selection of one from the group comprising a preset colour scheme and colours and fonts for an individual class of text. The collected information may include one or more extracts of text to display and the extracts may relate, inter alia, to one or more of the following: a welcome message, about us text and text for a callout box on the created website.

The collected information may include an indication of which of the business's contact details are to be disclosed on the created website. The * created web page may display, inter alia, one or more items of the business's contact details that have been specified as contact details to be disclosed.

The collected information may include specifying at least one domain name to be registered and linked to the created website. The method may include providing the user with real time feedback on the availability of the specified domain name. The domain name may be a top-level domain

® -10- (TLD) which is administered by a registrar which does not have an application program interface (API) available to register domains. The method may include automatically setting up email forwarding such that email sent to the email account set up at the registered domain name is forwarded to at least one email address specified by the user.

The method may include setting up the hosting under a separate virtual directory on a server. The method may include allowing a user to purchase products via an e-commerce transaction.

The invention extends to a web-based tool for automatically creating a website, the tool including: an online interface for collecting business information and for storing the collected business information in a database on a computer-readable medium; a means for automatically creating a website based on the collected business information; a means for automatically setting up hosting for the created website; and a means for automatically registering and setting up at least one domain name through which the hosted website can be accessed.

The web-based tool may further include an online interface through which content can be provided. The web-based tool may include such properties, features and/or means required substantially to implement : the computer-implemented method as defined above.

The invention extends further to a computer system operable to create a website, the system including:

One or more processors configured to:

r ! ® -11- collect information online, including information selected from the group composed of business information, general content and aesthetic preferences; store the collected information in a database on a computer- 5) readable medium;

Create automatically at least one web page based on the business information; set up hosting for the or each created web page; and register and set up at least one domain name through which the or each hosted web page can be accessed.

The computer system may be operable to display a user interface via which content can be collected. The computer system may include at least one web server operable to host the interface and/or the created web pages.

The invention extends still further to a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method as defined above, with or without instructing other computers to perform one or more parts of the method. : These and other features, aspects and advantages of the invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and drawings.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 ~~ shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating how information about the user's business may be collected via a wizard interface.

Figure 2 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating how aestetic preferences may be collected via a wizard interface.

Figure 3 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating how general content may be collected via a wizard interface.

Figure 4 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating how general content for the about us page may be collected via a wizard interface.

Figure 5 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating how a chosen domain name may be collected via a wizard interface and showing how the system could provide immediate feedback on the availability of a chosen domain name.Figure 6 shows F screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a possible online interface that can be used to select the content on a created website to be updated. The illustrated: embodiment shows options to update news, photos, products, testimonials, accreditations, frequently asked questions, links and documents.

Figure 7 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a possible interface that can be used to . provide content, in the illustration the uploading of news articles under specific categories.

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Figure 8 shows a flowchart illustrating some of the steps that could, inter alia, be taken to collect business information and to automatically build a website based on the collected business information.

Figure 9 shows a flowchart illustrating some of the steps that could, inter alia, be taken to collect content and to update the sitemap to include the pages that display the content collected.

Figure 10 shows a flowchart illustrating some of the steps that could, inter alia, be taken when the created website is requested.

Figure 11 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.

Figure 12 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a created web page that displays a news article based on the collected information and the content provided.

Figure 13 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a created web page that provides hyperlinks based on the collected information and the content provided.

Figure 14 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a created web page that allows a user to download documents based on the collected information and the content provided.

Figure 15 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a created web page that displays information on products based on the collected information and the content provided.

Figure 16 shows a screenshot from one possible embodiment of the invention illustrating a created web page that displays frequently asked questions and answers based on the collected information and the content provided.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Requirements

Certain hardware, software and interconnections are required to

S implement the method that is described in the present disclosure.

In order to host websites and email accounts, a server that is . appropriately configured to host websites and email is needed. Although other software combinations may also be appropriate, a Microsoft Windows based server loaded with Internet Information Services and MailEnable is recommended. In order to provide access to databases, a database server is ‘needed. MS SQL Server is recommended.

To manage, inter alia, hosting and email accounts via its application programme interface (“API”), domain control panel software needs to be set up on the server. The Plesk control panel is recommended.

In addition, accounts with third party service providers that offer domain registration services via an API, such as Enom, are needed.

Authentication

Each website sold is assigned a secret globally unique identifier ("GUID") number which is provided to the buyer at the time of the sale. The required tables to house the data related to the website are created in the database and linked to the relevant GIUD number.

As outlined in Figure 8, a buyer enters his/her GUID number to gain access to the system that collects the business information (“the wizard”). The system compares the number with the database table of assigned GUID numbers to ensure that it is valid. If it is, then the linked data is retrieved from the database and the user is referred to the last uncompleted step of the wizard.

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Record keeping

The GUID number is stored in session memory so that each subsequent page can identify the website that is currently being worked on. It is important to ensure that the session timeout is set to a high value (eg two hours) so that users are not timed-out if they take more than the customary twenty minutes to complete a step in the wizard.

Throughout the wizard, information is collected via hypertext markup language ("HTML") form fields (Figure 1 to Figure 5) that are tested against validation rules. The fields are populated with the relevant information relating to the website that is drawn from the database at the start of the step via an initialisation procedure. When a user clicks through to the next step, the information in the fields is saved back to the database and a record is updated to reflect that the relevant step has been completed (Figure 8).

Saving the information to the database after each step ensures that the user can exit at any time and continue at a future opportunity.

Collection of information on the business

Statutory information and contact details of the business and owner, such as the business type, registration number and telephone number, are collected as illustrated in Figure 1, via a series of user interfaces or control panels.

Examples are provided and validation rules are in place on each field. The examples and validation rules change when the user selects a different business type (e.g. individual, partnership or company). This is achieved through an automatic post-back event that launches when the business type is changed to re-assign the new properties to the example and validation controls based on the new selected business type.

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The available business types are displayed in a drop-down list and are determined with reference to the user's machine's IP address. The IP address is compared to a list of IP ranges and related countries and based on the country, certain business types are made available. The country also determines the content of the dropdown lists for country in the residential and postal addresses.

Publicly available information on the business is extracted from a third party website, such as the registrar of companies’ website and is used to validate or populate related fields. For example, the www.cipro.co.za website is queried with the business's registration number via an XML call, after which the address information returned is compared to the address information provided by the user.

Collection of aesthetic preferences

The aesthetic preferences collected include the selection/upload of a layout template, a banner image, a business logo, colours and fonts as illustrated in Figure 2. :

The user is presented with a selection of layout templates from which to choose. The list of templates is maintained in a database table and linked to a unique name for each template. To assist the user in his/her selection, a small screenshot of a website built using the selected template is also displayed. Through the use of asynchronous JavaScript and XML ("AJAX"), it is possible to update the screenshot image when the user selects another template.

The user is also presented with a selection of images that can be used as a banner image for the website to be created. The location and 30. size of the banner image will depend on the template selected. If he/she prefers, the user can choose to upload his/her own image that can be used as a banner image.

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The user is further able to upload an image of the business's logo.

Where a new image is uploaded, it is stored in a temporary directory on the server under a GUID number that is linked to the website + number in a database table. Images are automatically resized where they exceed a maximum resolution to avoid overly large images taking up excessive amounts of disk space.

A selection of preset colour schemes is made available to the user to select from. When a colour scheme is selected, it automatically updates the individual colours selected for headings, text and links on the website to be created. If precise colour matching is required (for example to be in line with corporate colour swatches) the user has the option of setting each of these colour selections individually. Finally, a list of fonts is shown and the user is given the opportunity to select a font for text and one for headings on the website to be created.

Collection of general content :

General content collected include a welcome message, text for a callout box, tab names and the selection of contact details to disclose, illustrated in Figure 3.

The screen provides an opportunity to the user to maintain the static text that will appear on the home page of the website to be created (“the welcome message”). Guidance is provided with respect to how to compose the welcome message and a word processor-type interface is provided to make it as familiar as possible to the user.

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Text can also be provided for the “callout box” on the website to be created. The callout box is meant to capture site visitors’ attention with a bold statement.

A list of potential tabs (eg “Home”, “About us”, "FAQ", “News”, “Photos”, “Testimonials”, “Accreditations”, “Downloads”, “Contact Us” and “Links") is provided together with the name under which they are to appear on the website to be created. The user is able to change these names if required. It is important to note that the use of the tabs is not being set in this step — rather there are methods described in the present disclosure that will automatically determine which of the tabs are in use and should appear on the website.

To ensure that the user's personal information remains private, the user is also able to select which of his/her contact details should be disclosed on the website to be created. This is done through checkboxes next to labels for “Cellphone”, “Landline”, “Fax”, “Physical address” and “Postal address”. Note that the contact details are not provided again — rather the use of the contact details in the website creation process is authorised.

Collection of content for about us :

In order to be able to populate the About Us page of the website to be created, the user may be presented with a word processor-type interface and asked to provide the text that will appear on the About Us page (Figure 4). Suggestions are provided as to what is normally included in such text.

The user is also given the opportunity to upload a number of images that will appear on the About Us page together with the text. Note that the layout of the photos is not provided by the user and will depend on the selected template.

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Chosen domain name

After all the necessary information has been collected, the user may be presented with a screen where he/she can choose a domain name for the website (Figure 5). Suggestions are provided and real-time feedback on

S the availability of a selected domain name is given.

The feedback on domain name availability is achieved through an AJAX post-back event that is raised when a new domain name is provided.

The event calls a function that determines the relevant domain registrar based on the top level domain ("TLD") of the submitted domain name.

Based on the TLD, the function connects to the API of the relevant domain registrar and submits the commands necessary to check for availability of the domain. In order to allow the connection, a Web Reference is registered to, for example, Enom’s APL. The commands to issue depend on each registrar and should be requested from the registrar concerned.

Where the registrar responsible for the registration of domains under a particular TLD does not have an API available, another custom- written function is used, with the function referred to above calling this custom-written function to determine the availability status of the relevant domain. N

The custom-written function makes use of an XML call to the registrar's web page where “whois” enquiries can be done from and submits the domain name being checked in the domain field of the form on the registrar's whois enquiry page. The registrar website's response is read and interpreted. For example, when checking the availability of a “.co.za” domain, an XML call is made to the page called by http://co.za/whois.shtml, posting the domain name being checked. As the response will show the registered : domain owner's details if the domain is registered or contain the words “No

Matches”.

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If not, the response is checked for those words and the domain } is marked as available if they are present.

The system will not allow the user to proceed to building the website before a valid and available domain name has been selected.

The user is also asked to provide a description of their business and some keywords to assist with search engine optimisation ("SEQ"). Guidance is provided in this respect.

Building

Once the user has provided the necessary information through the wizard, the provisioning of the website and email address at the chosen domain can commence. It is recommended that the following provisioning steps (Figure 8) be executed in the given order as one step may rely on another having been completed.

A recurring loop is used to ensure that the process is halted if an error should occur. On each run, the relevant step’s function is called to execute the sub-process. If the process was successfully handled, the function returns true and the database is updated to reflect that the current step has been successfully completed before the recurring function is called again. Should there be a problem with the execution of the sub-process, false will be returned and execution will halt, together with an appropriate error message to the user.

To ensure that subsequent runs do not repeat completed steps, reference is made to the database record of the last step successfully completed before the recurring function is called so that execution starts with the following step. oo

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Once all steps have been completed, the recurring function exits and displays a success message to the user with relevant particulars relating to the website (e.g. URL), email account (e.g. username, password, POP3 and

SMTP server) and control panel access (e.g. URL and login particulars).

Set up of hosting

The first step that is executed by the recurring function sets up the hosting and email account on the server (Figure 8).

In order to set up the accounts on the server, a connection is “established to the Plesk API. The API is automatically made available when

Plesk is installed on the server and is located at https://<plesk_server address>:8443/enterprise/control/agent.php.

Using the API's commands (more fully documented on SWSoft's website at http://download1.swsoft.com/Plesk-Plesk7.5/Doc/plesk-7.5r-sdk- htmi/docs/plesk agent/index.html) a new domain is created under a user previously created. It is important to ensure that the necessary properties : are set so that the website would be able to execute the scripts (e.g.

ASP.Net) required. The domain name is the one chosen by the user during the wizard phase and a random password is generated for each domain.

The website is created under a separate virtual directory on the server to allow, inter alia, the collection of usage statistics.

Create email account

A new email account (info@<the selected domain>) is created (Figure 8) under the newly created domain using the API's commands. A random password is also generated for the mail account, but this password is stored in the database as it will be needed by the user to access his/her email later via POP3 or webmail. I rm

Domain registration

After hosting has been set up, the system registers the chosen domain name with the relevant domain registrar (Figure 8).

The process followed depends on the TLD of the domain being registered. Where there is a registrar that has an API available, a call is made to that API using the commands specified by the relevant registrar to register the domain and is similar to the process followed to check domain availability : that is explained above.

If there is no API available to register the domain name, a custom API needs to be written to handle the registration. One example of such a case is the registration of “.co.za” domain names with Uniforum, the domain name authority responsible for South African domain names.

Uniforum requires an email in a predefined format to be sent to coza- admin@co.za to execute the domain registration. Accordingly a custom API is used that starts with a string containing the preformatted form to be emailed and inserts the appropriate field values into the string before emailing the text : to the appropriate email address for processing.

Contrary to intuition, it is important to execute the domain registration step after the setting up the hosting on the server because some registrars (such as Uniforum) require the DNS records of the domain to be set up prior to allowing the registration to proceed. :

Website structure : To provide for easily maintainable code and maximum flexibility, the created websites have a very specific structure from both the content and styling point of views. The process followed when a page from a created website is requested is outlined in Figure 10.

A global.aspx file (Figure 10) is used to read the website's number from a small file that is stored in its App_Data folder. With reference to the website's number, the website's business name, description and keywords are read from the database storing the information captured by the wizard. This information is stored in Application memory to ensure efficient access throughout the application. The application memory is reset each time a change is made to one of these variables.

Three master pages (Figure 10) are used to provide a standardised structure within which the current web page can be displayed.

The top-level master page's function is to update the title and meta data of the page and to load the information for the sitemap. The page title is set to the business name, with the description and keywords metadata also read from the values stored in Application memory. A sitemap data control is used to read the sitemap file (which is updated automatically each time a new feature is used).

The second-level master page, which contains the top-level master page, places the navigational items that use the sitemap data loaded in the top-level master page and also places placeholders for the main content area, additional content area, copyright area and business logo. The second-level master page's purpose is to determine the overall layout of the page. :

The third-level master page, which contains the second-level master page, places the controls in the placeholders reserved for the copyright message and logo by the second-level master page. The purpose of the third-level master page is to populate the standard layout.

Co The web pages contain the third-level master page and populate the main and additional content areas with specific content. The web pages include the default page, the contact us page, the about us page, the news page, the photos page, the links page, the testimonials page, the document download page and the products page amongst others.

The default page displays the welcome message that is retrieved from the database with reference to the site number stored in the

Application memory. Extracts from other information loaded via the control panel (Figure 9), such as accreditations, news and testimonials, may also be displayed on the default page. :

The contact us page retrieves the relevant contact details linked to the site number from the database and displays the fields that were selected to be disclosed.

The about us page retrieves and neatly displays the about us message provided to the wizard (Figure 8) as well as the images uploaded to the wizard.

The news page retrieves and displays news articles provided via the control panel (Figure 9) and allows filtering of articles by category or date posted. It also automatically generates RSS news feeds based on the news in the database.

The photos page retrieves photos uploaded through the control panel (Figure 9) and displays the same in a photo gallery on the page. : The links page retrieves the links provided via the control panel (Figure 9) and displays the same with links to their relevant URLs.

The testimonials page retrieves the relevant testimonials : provided through the control panel (Figure 9).

The downloads page lists documents available for download that were previously uploaded via the control panel (Figure 9).

The products page retrieves the product categories and their products previously provided through the control panel (Figure 9) and displays a product catalogue on the page. E-commerce functionality may be added to allow visitors to make online purchases of listed products.

It is important to note that the layout of the various components of the website (i.e. main content area, additional content area, navigation bars and logo) is determined by the middle-level master page (Figure 10).

This master page varies with each site, depending on the selected layout. All other pages are the same for every site, making them easy to maintain.

From a styling point of view, themes are used. Three stylesheets are contained in the App_Themes directory (Figure 10), named ~~ A.css, B.css and C.css because stylesheets are interpreted alphabetically. : The A.css stylesheet is the same for every website and contains overall default styles. The B.css stylesheet contains styles specific to the selected layout and may refer to some of the components in the second-level master page. The purpose of C.css is to translate the font and colours for text given to the wizard to styles.

In addition to the stylesheets, the App_Themes folder may also contain skins, depending on the selected layout.

Copying core files

Once the hosting for the site is set up and the domain registration is completed, site building (Figure 8) commences with the copying of the core site files to the virtual directory on the server where the site is hosted.

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The core files include all the client site files and directories except the second-level master page, B.css and B.skin (the component layout and related theme files that depend on the selected layout); the C.css file (the stylesheet that contains the font and colour information selected in the wizard); and the web.sitemap file (the file that contains the names of the tabs currently in use). :

For this step to execute correctly, it is important to ensure that appropriate permissions to the target directory are provided.

Copying uploaded images

This step (Figure 8) copies the logo and about us images from their temporary locations to the Images folder under the directory where the site being created is hosted.

If the user elected to upload his/her own banner image (Figure 2), then that image is also copied from the temporary location to the hosted directory. If an image was selected from the list (Figure 2), then the image file linked to that selection in the database is copied to the hosted directory.

Copying the layout files

There is a separate second-level master page, stylesheet and skin file for each layout. Based on the layout selected in the wizard (Figure 2), the appropriate master page and theme files are copied (Figure 8) to the directory where the site is hosted.

Creating the style sheet

In this step (Figure 8), a new text file (C.css) is created under the hosted directory in the relevant App_Themes folder. The text file contains entries for common tags such as page, hi to h5, p with their related style : information. The style information is generated from the selected font and

® -27 - colours provided (Figure 2) to the wizard for headings, text and links in the website to be created.

Storing the site number

To enable the site to retrieve the relevant information from the database (Figure 10), the site’s number in the database is stored (Figure 8) in a small text file that is created under the App_Data folder in the hosted directory.

Creating a custom site map

One of the distinguishing factors of the present invention is that it does not require the user to specify the pages that he/she would like to add or use — the method automatically determines the features that are used and updates the tabs accordingly, allowing the user to focus on the content and not the design of the website.

When a site is created for the first time, there are only three tabs in use, namely the home page, the contact page and the About Us page.

Accordingly only these tabs of the current website are initially marked as being used in the relevant database table. As additional features such as : news articles are used or no longer used, the database table is updated (Figure 9).

In this step of the website creation process (Figure 8) a text file (web.sitemap) is created in the directory where the website is hosted. The text file is generated by looping through all the possible tabs for the website in the order that the user wanted the tabs to appear and determining if each tab/feature is in use. Where it is used, a new line is written to the sitemap file that refers to the relevant page. For example, entries will always be made that refer to the default.aspx, contact.aspx and about.aspx pages. If the user . has published news articles, a reference to news.aspx will also be added but if this is not the case that tab will be skipped.

® Co -28-

Deletion of placeholder

A small but important step (Figure 8) is to delete the placeholder file that is normally placed in the hosted directory by Plesk when the hosting is set up. If the file is not deleted, depending on the settings in 11S, this placeholder file may be loaded before the default.aspx file.

Sending particulars

In addition to displaying particulars on the screen after the website has been built (Figure 8), the system also sends an email to the user giving the relevant particulars of the site and control panel's URLs and the password to gain access.

If a mobile number has been specified to the wizard, then an

SMS is sent to the user via an API with a provider of SMS communications services such as WinSMS.

Webmail

A professional looking email address (info@<domain>) is set up automatically (Figure 8) for each created website. To access his/her email, an SME owner can choose to set the account up on his/her mail client such as

Outlook Express. Even though this may seem simple, it remains a daunting task for many SME owners.

Consequently, a webmail facility also forms part of the solution.

The webmail facility is accessed through an Internet URL by logging in with the SME's domain name and password (which is the same as for the control panel). An open source webmail application can be used for this purpose.

® -29-

Content maintenance

To allow SME owners easily to add or change content on their websites, they are automatically given access to an interface (the “control panel”) that allows them to manage various forms of content (Figure 6).

The control panel requires the user to login using his/her domain -name and password in order to identify which website's content is being maintained. This is done by matching the domain name in the database with the associated site number.

From the control panel the following content can be maintained.

In each case the information is stored under relevant fields in a database and linked to the site number. e News articles (Figure 7) can be loaded under user-defined categories.

When the last article is deleted, the feature is marked as unused in the database. When the first is loaded, the feature is marked as used.

News articles can contain a title, sub title, body text, keywords, expiry date, URL to link to and images to display that are stored in the database under the relevant site together with the date published. e Photos can be uploaded to the server under user-defined albums.

Each photo can also have a description saved with it. Photos are automatically resized to avoid overly large files being kept on the disk.

A thumbnail version is also saved to provide faster loading times. » Products can be loaded under user-defined product categories. Each category and product can have a description and products can have an image associated with it and can have more than one size/colour combination — each with a unique price in the specified currency. « . Testimonials can be loaded together with the customer's photo and a ~ URL to a relevant link. e Accreditations (e.g. qualifications or memberships) can be loaded together with the organisation's name, logo and link.

® -30 - e Frequently asked questions, together with their answers and a link for more information can also be loaded. e External links can be loaded under user-defined categories together : with descriptions of the external sites. e Documents (such as Word, Excel or PDF documents) can be uploaded to the server. This allows any information that could not be presented elsewhere on the website to be presented via a link to a downloadable document. :

It is also easy to re-run the wizard (Figure 1 to Figure 5) from the control panel (Figure 6). Where information is changed, the relevant site building steps (Figure 8) discussed above are re-executed to ensure that the created website remains up to date with the new information in the wizard.

This would include copying any newly uploaded images to the relevant directory under the hosted directory, re-creating the stylesheet file when the selected font or colour scheme changes, re-copying the relevant layout files where another layout is selected, re-copying the relevant banner image or uploaded logo where another is selected/uploaded and re-creating the sitemap where tab names are changed.

Figure 11 shows a diagrammatic representation of machine. in the example form of a computer system 400 within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a = cellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise)

od -31- : that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 400 includes a processor 402 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 404 and a static memory 406, which communicate with each other via a bus 408. The computer system 400 may further include a video display unit 410 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 400 also includes an alphanumeric input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), a user interface (UI) navigation device 414 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 416, a signal generation device 418 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device 420.

The disk drive unit 416 includes a computer-readable medium 422 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.9% ware 424) embodying or utilised by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software 424 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 404 and/or within the processor 402 during execution thereof by the computer system 400, the main memory 404 and the processor 402 also constituting computer- readable media.

The software 424 may further be transmitted or received over a network 426 via the network interface device 420 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., HTTP).

While the computer-readable medium 422 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term "computer-readable medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g.,

® : -32- a centralised or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable - medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present embodiments, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilised by or associated with such a set of instructions. The term "computer-readable medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals. :

The computer system 400 may be a computer system operable : to create a website, in accordance with the invention.

Figures 12 to 16 show respective screenshots of web pages created for websites, by a method and system for automated web site creation in accordance with the invention. :

Important note

Although the invention has been described above with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that many modifications or variations of the invention are possible without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

The Inventor believes that the invention, as exemplified, provides a website creation tool that is able to create automatically a website based on business information collected together with look and feel preferences, without requiring the user to add or configure pages or components or have other website design skills. : Further, the website creation tool also automatically sets up hosting for the created website at an available domain name of the SME's choice and also automatically sets up a professional email address for the

SME under that domain.

Also, the automated website creation tool provides for frequent and easy maintenance of the created website's content without having to amend the website's pages themselves.

Claims (41)

* Lo -34 - anes || [[1HIH i —

1. A computer-implemented method for creating a website, the method including: online-collecting of information, including information selected from the group composed of business information, general content and aesthetic preferences; storing the collected information in a database on a computer-readable medium; creating automatically at least one web page based on the collected information; setting up hosting for the or each created web page; and registering and setting up of at least one domain name through which the or each hosted web page can be accessed.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further including setting up automatically at least one email account at the registered domain.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, further including: setting up automatically login credentials which provide access to a user interface through which content can be provided; creating automatically at least one web pages to display, inter alia, at least some of the content provided; and updating automatically a sitemap file such that the sitemap file at all times appropriately includes the automatically created web pages which relate to content which has been provided via the user interface but excludes those web pages for which no content has been provided through the user interface.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the created web page includes at least one style sheet which reflects at least some of the aesthetic preferences collected.

® | -35-

5. A method as claimed in claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the created web page includes at least one master page or style sheet which reflects a chosen layout or template.

6. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes news articles and wherein the created web page includes a page that displays, inter alia, at least some of the content of the news articles.

7. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 6 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes news articles and wherein the created web pages include one or more web pages that publish RSS feeds which reflect, inter alia, the headlines or content of at least one of the news articles.

8. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 7 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes photos or images and the created web page includes a page that displays, inter alia, at least one of the photos or images.

9. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 8 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes links to external websites and wherein the created web page provides, inter alia, hyperlinks to at least one of those external websites.

10. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 9 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes testimonials and wherein the created web page displays, inter alia, at least some of the testimonials.

11. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 10 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes accreditations and wherein the created web page displays, inter alia, at least some of the accreditations. oo :

12. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 11 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes uploaded documents and wherein the created web page allows a user to download at least one of the uploaded documents.

13. .A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 12 inclusive, wherein the content provided includes information on products and wherein the created web page displays, inter alia, at least some of the information on those products.

14. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 13 inclusive, wherein the created web page includes a home page that displays, inter alia, extracts of the content provided through the user interface.

15. A method as claimed in any of claims 3 to 14 inclusive, wherein : the content provided includes frequently asked questions with associated answers and wherein the created web page displays, inter alia, the frequently asked questions and answers.

16. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes an indication of a business type and wherein different data validation rules are applied to at least one item of business information collected, depending on the selected business type.

17. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein: an IP address of a user and the related country is determined; and different data validation rules are applied to items of information collected, depending on the determined country.

18. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes the business's registration number and wherein at least some of the contact details relating to the business are :

1g -37 - automatically extracted from, or validated against, information collected from a website which provides to the public access to such information.

19. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes a selection of one or more layouts or templates.

20. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected: information includes the selection or upload of at least one banner image.

21. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes the selection or upload of a business logo.

22. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes the selection of at least one colour and font to be applied to at least one class of text on the website, selected individually for each text class or through the selection of a preset colour scheme or fonts. :

23. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes text to display on the created website and wherein the text to display relates to at least one selected from the group composed of a welcome message, about us text and text for a callout box.

24. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes an indication of which of the business's contact details are to be disclosed on the created website.

25. A method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the created web page displays, inter alia, at least one item of the business's contact details that have been specified as contact details to be disclosed.

¢ -38-

26. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the collected information includes specifying at least one domain name to be registered and linked to the created website and which includes providing the "5 user with real time feedback on the availability of the specified domain name.

27. A method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the domain name is a “top-level domain (TLD) that is administered by a registrar which does not have an application program interface (API) available to register domains.

28. A method as claimed in claim 26 or claim 27, which includes automatically setting up email forwarding such that email sent to the email account set up at the registered domain name is forwarded to at least one email address specified by the user.

29. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, which includes setting up the hosting under a separate virtual directory on a server.

30. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, which includes allowing a user to purchase products via an e-commerce transaction.

31. A web-based tool for automatically creating a website, the tool including: an online interface for collecting information, including information selected from the group composed of business information, general content and aesthetic preferences and for storing the collected information in a database on a computer-readable medium; a means for automatically creating a website based on the collected information; a means for automatically setting up hosting for the created website; and

® . a means for automatically registering and setting up at least one domain name through which the hosted website can be accessed.

32. A web-based tool as claimed in claim 31, which further includes an online interface through which content can be provided.

33. A web-based tool as claimed in claim 31 or claim 32, which includes such properties, features or means required substantially to implement the computer-implemented method claimed in claims 1 to 30 inclusive.

34. A computer system operable to create a website, the system including: : at least one processor configured to: collect of information online, including information selected from the group composed of business information, general content and aesthetic preferences; : : store the collected information in a database on a computer- readable medium; create automatically at least one web page based on the business information; set up hosting for the or each created web page; and register and set up of at least one domain name through which : the or each hosted web page can be accessed.

35. A computer system as claimed in claim 34, which is operable to display a user interface via which content can be collected.

36. A computer system as claimed in claim 34 or claim 35, which includes at least one web server operable to host the interface or the created web pages. : :

37. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 30 inclusive.

38. A computer-implemented method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 30 inclusive, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the drawings.

39. A web-based tool as claimed in any one of claims 31 to 33 inclusive, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the drawings.

40. A computer system as claimed in any one of claims 34 to 36 inclusive, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the drawings.

41. A computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 37, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the drawings. : : DATED THIS 2" DAY OF FEBRUARY 2009 2 ADAMS & ADAMS : . APPLICANT'S PATENT ATTORNEYS