Rapid Web News

Memcache has been around for some time now, developed by Brad Fitzpatrick in 2003 for Live Journal; Memcache has matured gradually over the years for being a great method of improving the performance of many types of applications by storing arbitrary chunks of data in memory via a key / object store. It has a popular adoption rate with many well-known sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Linked-In all employing Memcache in some capacity to improve performance by alleviating load on any database servers.

At Rapid Web we have been employing Memcache techniques in some of most our most intensive internal and client systems. Typical implementations usually involve storing the results of a particular function call for either duration or for a long as possible. When the same function is called a subsequent time, the function determines if the data is already cached, if this is the case the result returned comes directly from the cache. The result is only then recomputed when the data falls out of memory, which occurs when a potential expiration value has been exceeded or there is limited memory available in which case Memcache removes the least requested cache item.

Developing responsive applications is certainly a critical consideration when building new applications. Recently we developed a new type of caching manager for a Stock System. This system holds large sets of data and deals with a variety of different computations for managing stock and processing orders. We found that by caching even the most trivial aspects of system, such as – item to process counters, and all non-critical elements, it all makes a difference. This not only drastically improves the application speed, but this as a direct result radically improves the browsing experience by removing the need to recompute intensive operations on page load.

We highly recommend trying Memcache, or standard file caching methods when speed is key.

We recently announced one of our most recent client websites launches, Kids T-shirts. Despite only being released a few weeks ago the site is already seeing a steady increase in orders and visitor traffic. The site utilises our in house, custom developed e-commerce solution, modified to suit the needs of the client and its users.

With Halloween fast approaching the range of t shirts offered by kids t-shirts has expanded to accommodate all things spooky and scary in preparation for the Halloween festivities. Some of the most prominent and bestselling items in the new collection are the new glow in the dark t shirts. They feature many a spooky design perfect for trick or treating or any planned Halloween party.

Some of the new glow in the dark range are shown below, the first being the classic Banksy’s Grim Reaper design, followed by a series of flying cartoon bats.

We recently posted about the launch of BanksyTshirts.org. If this interested you, you may also be interested in the recent launch of another Banksy t-shirts website!

Rapid Web is happy to announce the recent launch a t-shirt website based solidly on our main and highly, flexible e-commerce system.

This website offers a full e-commerce experience for both the visitors browsing the advanced front-end shopping basket/cart system, and for the client who can utilise an in-depth, customisable administration system. This administration system allows the client to add and modify products that display on the public areas of the website and to manage the orders received through the site including orders taken via any number of payment gateway systems that can integrate with our e-commerce system.

The integrated payment systems included in this website are the SagePay payment gateway (previously known as ‘Protx’) and the ever popular PayPal, though our e-commerce system’s checkout can easily be integrated with any common or even obscure method of electronic payment.

As well as the background code that powers this website, Rapid Web also created the custom, bespoke website design for this Banksy t-shirts website. The design emphasises the details commonly associated with graphic artists such as Banksy himself. If you wish to view this custom design in its full glory, take a look at our portfolio page or the Banksy t-shirts .net website!

Rapid Web is happy to announce our latest client’s website launch, a brand new Kids t-shirts website!

If you want a t-shirt for your child, or maybe your young one wants to pick our a t-shirt of their choice – this brand new kids t-shirts website may be the place to look.

This websites for young t-shirt buyers, is powered by our primary e-commerce system. This e-commerce website system can be highly enhanced and modified to fit the bespoke and ever changing requirements of our clients. For example, this system integrates a custom and unique product page specifically designed for the sale of the particular products which suit a kids t-shirt website. The basket/checkout system has also been customised and simplified using AJAX technologies to provide a more user-friendly flow to the ‘product to basket’ functionality, which helps increase immediate conversions and sales.

The design of this website has also been created uniquely by Rapid Web for the kids t-shirts website. It focuses on a bright, bold and colourful design that is designed to appeal to the targeted kids and parents audience. This unique styling and design have been applying to associated WordPress installation which allows the client to post regular kids t-shirt news and announce the launch of new kids t-shirts and related products and designs.

If you’re interested in a bespoke e-commerce website and/or WordPress powered news/blog system, please feel free to contact us directly for a quote!

Several of us in the Rapid Web office are into some quite geeky hobbies, myself especially. Rapid Web is proud to announce the recent launch of Something Geeky, a brand new e-commerce website which sells geek t-shirts and other general geeky products.

This e-commerce website is based on our custom in-house e-commerce system, which allows our clients to administrate their products and site options via a secure, custom and bespoke administration suite. This e-commerce system can be customised with new functionality as desired by the client in question. For example, the Something Geeky site shows custom hover effects on product selection, an AJAX powered ‘add to basket’ functionality, heavily customised product pages and a tight integration with a custom themed WordPress installation for covering information about geeky news and new geek t-shirt product releases.

The main site and the WordPress installation are covering by a fully custom ‘Something Geeky’ theme and website design which is fully unique to the needs of the client. This design and layout is custom designed to appeal primarily to the geek/gaming audience that the products listing on the website currently target.

Something Geeky is a custom e-commerce solution, WordPress installation and full website design and theme bespoke to the needs of the client. If you’re interested in a new website that covers any of these area, feel free to contact us right here!