What exactly do I mean by Extra SEO Goodness? The enhancements in Vine Type version 2.2 provide three new significant Search Engine Optimization (SEO) feature improvements. Being friendly to Google and other search engines is a necessity on the internet. You want your website to be found and indexed easily -- providing the information the search engines need to categorize the information your website provides.

Improved Titles and Descriptions

The biggest feature improvements provide enhanced search result titles and descriptions for your site. Prior to version 2.2, titles were mostly static, and per-article descriptions were non-existent. Now, by placing the $_articletitle_text variable in your title tag and the $_article_summary variable in your meta description tag, search engine visitors are more likely to see what they are looking for.

Take a look at two Google searches for the same Vine Type site before version 2.2 and with version 2.2. Before version 2.2, all the article titles and summaries looked very similar.

After version 2.2, the difference is dramatic. Titles are meaningful, and the descriptions (the first several words of the article) provide a clear indication as to what will be found when the link is clicked.

Generic Search Engine Sitemaps

Pro users of Vine Type will also benefit from the search engine sitemap provided by version 2.2. Prior to version 2.2, Vine Type served up Google sitemaps, but now serves up a similar industry-standard version for Yahoo!, Live Search, and other search providers.

404 Page Not Found

You might not initially equate missing page support with search engine goodness, but search engines are very interested in knowing when pages have been removed, so that those pages could be removed from their index. Vine Type previous to version 2.2 issued visual 404s - blank pages when an article or section was deleted or moved.

Visitors understood their bookmark should be changed, but search engines would continue to index the old page thinking it was still in existence but now blank. This situation can lead to considerable search results clutter. By providing true 404 support, Vine Type version 2.2 sites will clearly communicate to search engines whether pages are and are not present.

Vine Type 2.2 is ready for immediate download. Subtitled With Extra SEO Goodness, Vine Type's 404 support and enhanced article summary improves search engine summary reports. In addition, v2.2 pro licenses gain new generic search engine sitemap capabilities.

• fixed: (security issue) vinetype folder name is no longer shown in malformed xml message
• fixed: no more gmt timestamp when saving articles
• fixed: UTF-8 characters in ANSI-encoded file

• fixed: $article_summaries:yes

• new: generic feed=sitemap (pro licenses only)

• new: $_now variables
  • several new now variables allow you to place the current time, date, or year wherever you'd like. I use the current year in my copyright notice.
• new: $article_summaries_more
• new: $article_summaries_more_img_url
• new: $_article_summary
  • place this in your meta description tag for improved search engine results
• new: $_articletitle_text
  • place this in a title tag for improved page titles
• new: true 404s
• new: srch $_nav_section
  • $_nav_section will contain "srch" when users use the srch widget.
• new: $_commenting_open 0/1 indicator

After some template changes and a repackaging effort, I'll be releasing Version 2.2 of Vine Type. This release will get the tagline With Extra SEO Goodness because the bulk of the changes have been in support of improved Search Engine Optimization behaviors.

From improved search engine result titles and summary descriptions to true 404 Page Not Found support -- version 2.2 provides more tools to get your site indexed even better.

Stay tuned for the update.

Vine Type 2.0 is ready for immediate download. Version 2 of Vine Type is a .NET version 2 application. There are several changes, most notably a performance improvement by caching Ma.gnolia lists locally and updating them only once each hour.

Version 2

New requirement: .NET Framework 2.0 required. Vine Type 1.5 is the final Vine Type release supporting .NET Framework 1.1

• fixed: removed spaces that often appeared in text entry boxes.
• fixed: problem with non en-US cultures when calculating comment expiration
• changed: XML file schema change. All references to "writeback" replaced with "comment." If upgrading from v1.x to v2.0 you must replace-all instances of "writeback" to "comment" in the following files
  • site.xml, site.xsl
  • wb.xml, wb.xsl
  • all template (.html) files in the vinetype folder
  • vinetype.config
  • your css files
    Only if you are upgrading from a v1 Vine Type website, do the following:
  • back up your files (copy to a different location or send the vinetype folder to a zip file)
  • open each xml, xsl, html template and vinetype.config file in a text editor
  • find and replace every occurence of writeback with comment
  • save the file
• changed: article summaries no longer show images for better summary experience
• added: ma.gnolia caching
• added: new, better, statistics-gathering, snippet-showing, keyword-emphasizing search results.
• added: $label_searchresult (vinetype.config)
• added: $label_searchresults_matches (vinetype.config)
• added: Alternating article style option with these two variables
  • $comment_alts (vinetype.config)
  • $_commentalt (template file)
• added: Alternating article style option with these two variables
  • $article_alts (vinetype.config)
  • $_artalt (template file)

Boston

A new Vine Type template is available for immediate download. Boston is based from an award-winning Word Press template by Sreejith Krishnan.

A darker theme with orange highlights is in keeping with the season. This template can be viewed in action at the vinetype.org website. Download Boston now.

Vine Type Version 1.5 is Now Available for download.

With this release, Vine Type brings some exciting new features -- integration with two of the most beloved social networking websites around: Ma.gnolia and Flickr.

Ma.gnolia is the rising star among several social bookmarking websites. I am impressed with the quality and features Ma.gnolia provides via programming interfaces. With only two configuration entries, Vine Type users can easily add bookmark lists to their web sites.

Flickr, if you haven't heard, is the shining star in online photo sharing. Vine Type makes adding Flickr photos to web sites easy. After adding a few configuration file entries and template file variables, your Flickr photos are easily displayed in one of several different ways.

Version 1.5

1. Fixed

   • Additional fixes to keep Vine Type on correct section when adding or updating an article
   • Occasional XML-not-well-formed error when searching with summaries on
   • ATOM10 and RSS20 feeds now deeply link articles

2. Added

   • Flickr Support
   • Ma.gnolia Support
   • over 20 new more specific template variables for
     • article_posted time
     • article_updated time
     • comment added time
   • two new template variables that remove previous dependency on default.aspx
     • $_aspx
     • $_aspx_section

3. Upgrade Instructions

   • replace vinetype.dll
   • in your template files
     • replace action="default.aspx" with action="$_aspx_section"
     • replace any remaining occurrences of default.aspx with $_aspx
   • refresh your browser

Today brings even more recognition and praise for Vine Type. This time Accessites.org is praising the Vine Type site itself. Accessites scores and awards sites based on how well they provide web site accessibility. In the review, Accessites noted that Vine Type's level of accessibility is remarkable because "There are few CMSs that excel in [the area of accessibility.]"

The Vine Type site was awarded a Noteable Universal Design designation. Read the full review at the Accessites.org web site.

Asp.NetPRO Magazine just released a very positive review of the Vine Type 1.4 Content Management System.

Microsoft MVP Anand Narayanaswamy authored the article, and praises Vine Type for its small size, ease of installation, and ease of content management. He writes:

"I found it very interesting to work with the product as it is easy to manage all the required settings using a single configuration file rather than locating and editing several files."

Vine Type is further praised for its ease of upgrading, portability, as well as Vine Type's ability to provide rich text entry without the need of a "heavyweight WYSIWYG text editor."

Read the entire review at the AspNetPRO website.

Vine Type Version 1.4 is Now Available for download.

Version 1.4

1. Fixed

   • When adding or updating an article, Vine Type now stays on correct section

2. Added

   • Gravatar Support

3. Upgrade Instructions

   • replace vinetype.dll
   • refresh your browser

Vine Type Version 1.3 is Now Available for download.

Version 1.3

1. Fixed

   • improved section selection for Atom 1.0 Partial website Syndication
   • duplicate vinetype.config entries no longer generate yellow screen of death
   • template variable expansion algorithm improvement

2. Added

   • RSS 2.0 comment Syndication (single article) default.aspx?feed=rss20wb&id=nn
   • RSS 2.0 Partial Website Syndication (section articles) default.aspx?feed=rss20&section=sssss
   • Random template variables. That is variables that generate random numbers

3. Upgrade Instructions

   • Replace vinetype.dll file
   • Refresh your browser

Vine Type Version 1.2 is Now Available for download.

Version 1.2

1. Fixed

   • generated section ids no longer contain spaces

2. Added

   • Atom 1.0 Syndication (all articles) default.aspx?feed=atom10
   • Atom 1.0 comment Syndication (all comments) default.aspx?feed=atom10wb
   • Atom 1.0 comment Syndication (single article) default.aspx?feed=atom10wb&id=nn
   • Atom 1.0 Partial Website Syndication (section articles) default.aspx?feed=atom10&section=sssss

3. Upgrade Instructions

   • Add $rss_author_name entry to your vinetype.config file
   • Replace vinetype.dll file
   • Refresh your browser

Vine Type Version 1.1 is Now Available for download.

Version 1.1

1. Fixed

   • Removed extraneous empty UL element in site map that caused an XHTML 1.1 validation error
   • Added code to ensure that cross-referenced articles are referenced only once in Google Site Map
   • Automatically trim whitespace around section names and cross-references when adding or editing an article
   • Fixed problem with $_site_map that caused cross-referenced articles to appear only once in the site map

2. Added

   • Added guid element to RSS20 feed so it validates
   • Automatically attempt to convert relative paths in articles to absolute paths when serving up RSS20 feed

   • Added new CSS ids and classes to the $_section widget.

     After upgrading to 1.1, you may need to adjust your CSS to add a class reference for sectionowner. Top-level-section List (LI) elements will receive the listowner class rather than the section class when the user selects a subsection (second-tier) or below page. Websites with only top-level sections are unaffected.

3. Removed

   • Removed the 00001_rusty template from vinetype.zip file
   • Deprecated the $rss_url vinetype.config variable - Vine Type will figure out your URL

4. Changed

   • Adjusted default.css to accommodate change to $_section widget (see below)

5. Upgrade Instructions

   • Replace vinetype.dll file
   • Refresh your browser
   • Adjust CSS adding definitions for class sectionowner if both the following are true:
     1. your site uses the $_section widget in a template file and
     2. your site contains second-tier subsections

The Vine Type site statements section provides a place to group background information pertaining to the features found on this web site.

• about this site describes the details behind the creation of this site
• accessibility lists and provides additional information on the accessibility features found on the Vine Type site
• privacy policy outlines the privacy policy for Vine Type, detailing the type of information gathered from end users, and how it is (or is not) shared.

It's official. Vine Type is cool.

411asp.net, one of the premiere .NET application directories, has determined that Vine Type, a content management system designed to facilitate standards compliance, is not only functional, but it's cool. Vine Type's directory listing is enhanced with an icon of 3d-glasses to designate it as cool.

Vine Type joins an elite set of cool applications in the 411asp.net directory, and is the first and only content management system in the directory awarded cool status.

Note: Vine Type has not, and does not, advertise on the 411asp.net site.

Hi everyone. This is Carl Camera, maker of Vine Type. I'm very happy to release Vine Type 1.0. What is most exciting for me is that I get to announce that half of proceeds from Vine Type Pro will be given to charities that help the children of Guatemala.

Vine Type is a passion of mine. I'm very happy to provide a content management system built with web standards in mind. As much as I like being a champion of web standards, I'd like even more to be a champion for the children of Guatemala. This tiny country in Central America is still recovering from war and natural disasters. The needs are great and I am looking forward to assisting as I can the children and that nation.

That is why I am more than happy to give 50% of all gross proceeds of Vine Type Pro to charities assisting the children of Guatemala. So by supporting Vine Type, you'll also be supporting those children as well.

Still Free

Vine Type has been, and will remain, a free-for-personal-use product. Along with the release of Vine Type Personal version 1, I am also releasing Vine Type Pro version 1 for commercial use.

Affordable for Commercial Use Too

Now for US$20 you can have Vine Type manage your commercial websites as well. The products are identical except for the addition of support for Google Site Maps in the Pro version.

Thanks!

I'd like to thank the many folks who have downloaded prerelease versions of Vine Type and helped me to improve Vine Type. Keep the emails coming. Keep posting your questions to the forum as AspAdvice. I'll help to the best of my abilities to assist you.