Blog

You may have noticed that images and video can now be directly embedded in Rich Text areas on Vae. We have added 2 attributes to <v:text> to help you customize how these images and video are rendered:

asset_height - if this is a rich text field with embedded assets such as video or images, setting this attribute will scale these assets to be no bigger than this many pixels high.
asset_width - similar to asset_height, but for width.

More information here: http://docs.vaeplatform.com/v_text

We're working hard over here on building more training videos so we can better show off the power of Vae. Here's the first result of our efforts. We hope to be making many more of these soon.

http://actionverb.com/training/BlogBlog.mov

We have changed the way that your sites' error pages (for example, 404 Error) can be edited. For all newly created sites, these will be stored in a folder called error_pages in your FTP root. You can edit them directly.

We did not make the change retroactive, because we do not want to break any of your existing sites. IF you have an older Vae site and need to edit your error pages, send us an E-Mail and we'll update your site to use the new structure.

A big drawback to Vae has always been that Associations were not able to be browsed in reverse. That is, let's say you have a collection called Properties that contains an association to another collection called Agents. It'd be nice to be able to click on Agents and then see a list of the properties that belong to just that one agent.

Now, we have built it out so that you can indeed do that. It doesn't make sense in all situations, so you must enable it for each association by specifying a name for the Reverse Association in the Site tab.

Let us know if you have any suggestions!

Some customers that use Time Warner Cable in New York, NY have reported intermittent connection problems and slowness connecting to sites hosted on Vae.

After an investigation, we have determined this is an Internet routing problem occurring somewhere between Time Warner's network (rr.com) and the network of our upstream provider (peer1.net). These problems seem to be affecting all traffic between rr.com and our datacenter (Peer 1) in San Antonio, TX. Wordpress is also hosted in the same datacenter, and is experiencing the exact same problems.

We have confirmed that these problems are not being caused by us and to the best of our knowledge are isolated to this particular market.

We have reported this to our upstream network providers and to Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do at this time, as the problem is not with our systems.

Thanks for your patience.

Want to use PHP integration but don't want to give up the VaeML looping constructs inside <v:collection>? Now you can do both, together. The new <v:php> tag will execute PHP code inside the VaeML interpreter.

Simply put PHP code inside <v:php> tags and that code will run inside that VaeML context. If it is inside a collection, it will run once for every collection element. The PHP variable $context will be set to the current context.

For more information: http://integration.vaeplatform.com/v_php

Managing a huge site with Vae? Now you can search all your content, any time.

Just highlight your mouse over the new Search tab in the top right and you can search any of your content. This feature has been added to all Vae sites. You don't have to do anything to activate it.

Please send any comments or questions to support.

Action Verb, LLC is a small, profitable, fast-growing NYC-based startup (founded by a Harvard '08 graduate) that is revolutionizing the way web design firms operate.

Our first product, Vae, is a hosted content management platform that totally separates the internal content management interface from the public-facing website. Designers build a custom backend interface for each site using our graphical tools by selecting what types of data structures are needed for each section of the site. (For example, a Record Label site might have a collection of Artists, each of which has Photos, Videos, Tour Dates, Blog Posts, MP3s and Links.) Their clients can then log in to Vae and add/edit content within the framework created by the designer. This content is made available via a REST API, PHP API, and through VaeML, our proprietary content presentation language. Vae also integrates eCommerce, targeted E-Mail Marketing, hosting, and more. See http://vaeplatform.com/features for a bigger picture.

Vae is powerful enough that it enables small design teams (even those without programmers) to compete with big design firms for big projects. But it's also quite addictive -- most design firms that use Vae now use it exclusively, even for small sites. Vae is in an invitation-only beta stage, but is already used in production on dozens of sites. The closest competing products are Squarespace and Good Barry, but we think we beat both of them in terms of flexibility.

We're looking for someone to join our team as a full-time Evangelist for the Vae platform. You will make demos, give presentations, and maintain relationships with our designer clients and potential clients. You will promote and defend Vae on forums, blogs, at conferences, and through guerilla marketing. You will ensure that our documentation is complete and helpful. You will write meaningful tutorials that help new designers bootstrap. You will devise and execute plans to increase the number of designers and websites using Vae. Some of these will be very Macguyver.

You will devote all your energy to evangelism and business development -- you will not be expected to contribute to engineering on Vae or any of our other products. To get you up to speed, we will place you with one of our current designer partners and you will work with them to implement Vae on two or three websites.

We think this is a great opportunity for a business-minded hacker that refuses to take a code monkey job or web designer that is looking to use his or her skills in a different way.

Anyone we hire absolutely must have:

- Either a 4 year degree from a leading university or compelling professional skills and experience (we don't so much if you went to school, we do care that you're smart, talented and motivated)
- a good understanding of XHTML, CSS and familiarity with Javascript and server-side technologies
- background working on web design / applications either technically or at a high level on the business side
- excellent writing skills (you will be writing documentation, examples, and demos)
- excellent people/networking skills (you will be representing Vae in person at conferences and interfacing with two types of clients regularly)
- strong motivation and ability to make decisions on your own

Ideal candidates will have:

- a complete working knowledge of XHTML, CSS, Javascript (preferrably jQuery)
- experience doing paid web design projects, either individually or as part of an agency
- experience with at least one server-side technology, preferrably PHP or Ruby (our software is mostly written in Ruby, but most web designers use PHP, so PHP demos, APIs, and documentation is critical)
- experience on an open source project

We'd be very reluctant to hire anyone that doesn't use a Mac though if you have a good story about why you use something open source we'd be willing to listen.

We're in NYC, but telecommuting can be an option as long as you're willing to travel to NYC occasionally. We envision this as a full-time position, but if you're finishing school, let's talk anyway. Start immediately, or as soon as you can. Compensation is cash and/or equity.

This position offers a reasonable base pay, significant opportunities for profit sharing short term and possibly equity long term. We are looking for someone excited by the fact that you'll be helping build a small company (you would be the third full time employee) and will not be at the bottom of a hierarchy.

To apply, please send your:

* resume
* cover letter - don't stress about making it formal, just tell us why you're awesome
* design portfolio (optional)

to [email protected].