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There has recently been a couple of important new features in the popular email delivery platform, MailChimp.

MailChimp now makes it easy to include video in your email. Not true video though in your email (that's pretty much impossible for email) - but the ability to automatically create a thumbnail and link just from the youtube url of the video at a size of your choice. Even better, this process is automated when including RSS feeds that include videos, which leads me to the next notable MailChimp feature. This is for many people old news, as it is a feature that was originally introduced to MailChimp in April last year. I believe it is as revolutionary as content managed websites are to plain html websites. It is still rarely utilised or known about by many MailChimp users. It is about combining the powers of two online mediums - email and RSS.

The vast majority of newsletters most businesses are likely to send with MailChimp are of the plain ol' campaign type, allowing the delivery of a completely customised html email newsletter, with a couple of dynamic fields (person's name, etc). A/B comparative campaigns and others are possible, but due to the additional time required in setting these up (not much but some), are historically not used that often by our clients.

Australian software developer Alltraders is the fourth fast-growing company in South Australia, based on the company's first appearance on the Fast Movers list of rapidly-growing SA businesses.

The accolade, announced Friday, comes just three years after its owners, Ben Horner and Michael O'Loughlin, began running it as a full-time business. Alltraders, which has 20 employees and a turnover of about $1.5 million, recorded year-on-year growth of more than 80 per cent.

Complied annually by inBusiness magazine, the Fast Mover SA Company Index recognises 150 of the fastest-growing businesses based in SA.

Australian software developer Alltraders has made its inaugural appearance on the Fast Movers list of rapidly-growing South Australian companies – just three years after its owners began running it as a full-time business.

Complied annually by inBusiness magazine, the Fast Mover SA Company Index recognises 150 of the fastest-growing businesses based in SA.

Alltraders Chief Information Officer Michael O’Loughlin said making the Fast Mover Index was an exciting achievement for the company’s management team and its staff. “It’s exciting to make it as a finalist after just three years of running Alltraders as a full-time business,” he said.

Alltraders is proud to announce the launch of the new website for Jay Weatherill, our newly appointed Premier of South Australia, and the Ministers of the Government of South Australia.

The next Joomla! User Group Adelaide will be held tomorrow night (8th of November) at Alltraders from 6pm.

The agenda for November includes:

•  - Discussion of the creation of a national parent body of Australian Joomla events, including User Groups and Conferences.
•  - Summary of the year's Joomla developments
•  - Looking onwards to 2012 - Joomla 1.8: the next long term release.
•  - New Joomla extensions
•  - Next Joomla User Group

Let us know if you're coming by sending a quick email to Jared, or contact us. Remember to bring $5 to cover pizza.

Australian software developer Alltraders has appointed Ben Horner as its inaugural Chief Executive Officer while fellow executive director Michael O'Loughlin has become Chief Information Officer.

Mr. Horner and Mr. O'Loughlin, who launched their company as a part-time operation after buying a web-hosting business online in 2006, now employ 20 people in the $1.5 million-a-year enterprise.

Alltraders has averaged 500 per cent growth a year since it was set up five years ago. The Adelaide-based business designs and delivers online business applications as well as developing and hosting easy-to-manage Joomla! websites.

As Alltraders enters its sixth year of operation, Mr. Horner has accepted the role of CEO while Mr. O'Loughlin has become CIO. As well as implementing this corporate management structure, Alltraders has merged its software engineering and web-hosting divisions to better meet demand for software applications in the Cloud. The Cloud refers to online-hosted applications that are accessible from any Internet-connected device and often purchased as a service.

After averaging 500 per cent growth a year since buying a web hosting business online, Michael O’Loughlin and Ben Horner are now preparing their company, Alltraders, for the Cloud.

With sales worth $1.5 million a year in Australia and overseas, Alltraders employs 20 people to design and deliver business applications as well as develop and host easy-to-manage Joomla! websites.

Mr. O’Loughlin and Mr. Horner bought the Alltraders webhosting business with 20 clients in 2006 when Adelaide entrepreneur Vic Ratnieks sold it to focus on his other businesses. Several years later, the new Alltraders recruited Mr. Ratnieks to use his expertise in project management to help win and run larger software contracts.

As Alltraders enters its sixth year of operation, Mr. Horner has accepted the role of Chief Executive Officer while Mr. O’Loughlin has become Chief Information Officer. As well as running Alltraders, they have actively invested in developing other businesses including the online engineering certification service Prompt Certification.

Alltraders is also merging its software engineering and web hosting divisions to better meet demand for software applications in the Cloud. The Cloud refers to online-hosted applications that are accessible from any Internet-connected device and often purchased as a service.

The September Joomla! User Group Adelaide has come up quickly this month, and will be going ahead this Tuesday night here at Alltraders in Albert Park.

During the last meeting, August Boehm, our resident SEO-go-to-guy, ran through ways of using the various browser development tools available for Firefox (Firebug), Chrome and even for debugging sites in Internet Explorer 7+. This lead to several mentions of several helpful and time saving extensions, and were discussed in detail between the attendees. Of particular note was the advanced search tool Ace Search to replace the standard Joomla search, and the speedy blog updating functionality via the Firefox/Chrome add-on Scribefire.

The next JUGA will have an open floor for attendees of issues that they are encountering, where the group can work to assist. Also, Sasha from Thinkwebs will be doing a small presentation on his new website development if time permits.

So regardless of your Joomla experience level, come along to share your knowledge, and experience with about this fantastic CMS. You never know what you may learn from a room filled with web bothans.

As always, if you'd like to come, network and get some free web advice and share in some awesome company, let us know by sending an email to Eli or tweet me.

When:
6pm on Tuesday the 13th of September, 2011

Where:
Alltraders
1 Hawke St
Albert Park, South Australia

What:
Open Floor Discussion, Joomla and web advice, $5 pizza

Earlier this year, Alltraders held an internal staff foosball championship. All departments of the company were involved, although it initially started as a software vs web department.

The following video shows highlights of the Grand final, played between Jeremy and Michael.

Every time we speak with other developers, whether they are tinkering with pre-built templates or building from the bottom up, in-browser Web Developer Tools always seems to play an important part of the conversation. They're normally brought into the conversation with the sentence "If I didn't have insert-tool-set-here I would have insert-pain-here".

With this in mind, the next Joomla! User Group Adelaide will feature a presentation on Firefox (Firebug) and Chrome Developer Tools by our resident Search Engine Optimist August Boehm.

So if you are new to developing templates or already enjoy spending hours elbows deep in CSS, come along to share your experiences with these quintessential development tools. You never know what you may learn from a room filled with web bothans.

As always, if you'd like to come, network and get some free web advice and share in some awesome company, let us know by sending myself an email to myself or tweet me.

Also, please don't forget to bring $5 donation for group pizza - the drinks and sweets are on us.