We know Yola site owners really like being able to modify and personalize their sites to meet their needs, so we’ve added some new features that provide even more choices. We’ve improved banners and backgrounds, added an option to take out the Yola Link, and added new Styles.

Change your background

We’re greatly expanding the number of Styles that let you change the background of your site. We also added Apply to All, so you can easily use the same background and banner image throughout your site – makes it so simple to update everything at once. To learn more, go to Personalize your Style.

Remove the footer

We love the Yola Link at the bottom of every page, but realize it might not be for everyone. With the new Yola Link Removal feature, you can take out the Yola Link from all current and future sites in your account for only $9.95/year. If you choose to remove it, you can do it from the bottom of your page within the Sitebuilder.

Try out a new Style

Check out two fantastic styles that take advantage of the above new features. They are named Flowershop and Victoria – try them out with the next site you build.

We have lots more features coming to give you even more customization, so check back on the blog, or better yet, join our community.

We’re pleased to announce new features based on your feedback and interests - now you can set up personalized email addresses and easily manage multiple domain names – all at no extra cost.

Yes, your very own email address
When you buy a domain name from Yola, or if you already own one from us, you can get matching email addresses for free. It’s ideal for building name recognition for your website.

Your personalized email address works with either Google Apps Gmail or Windows Live Hotmail, so you can choose the service that best suits your needs. When setting up your email, you’ll find it’s handy to print out the tutorial. Get started by downloading, Creating email addresses with your domain purchased from Yola.

Advanced Domain Settings
If you own multiple Custom Domain Names, or want to transfer a Custom Domain Name from one site is to another, you can do it with the Advanced Domain Settings Manager. Find out about it with DNS for your Yola domain

We’re excited to introduce the availability of yolasite subdomains.  Now, when you publish a new site with a subdomain, it will contain yolasite (for example, mysitename.yolasite.com) instead of SynthaSite (mysitename.synthasite.com).
If you currently use a SynthaSite subdomain, now you can choose whether or not to switch to Yolasite.com.

Go ahead, keep synthasite.com
You can keep your site on synthasite.com as long as you want. You do not need to change to yolasite.com. You may want to stay put, if:
•    You have a large user base who knows your web address
•    Your site ranks well on search engines
•    There’s printed materials with your web address

Or change to yolasite.com

Yolasite is a bit shorter and easier to spell than our former name. To switch to a yolasite subdomain, you need to log on to Yola and:

Go to the MySites Page

Fill in a site name and click the Change Now button.

Go to the Sitebuilder

Near the top of the page, click the arrow next to Update My Sites and select Publishing Settings

More about changing subdomains
•    You can use your existing site name with yolasite.com. We’ll hold it until May 31.
•    You can also get a different site name with yolasite.com – they’ll be available on a first come, first serve basis.
•    Any traffic going to your old synthasite.com web address will be redirected to your new yolasite.com web address – which means returning visitors can still find your site. Your new yolasite.com address will appear in the address bar.
•    Whenever you change subdomains, all content on your site always stays the same.
•    You will need to update your settings with your new web address for domain-specific tools, like Google Webmaster Tools or Google Analytics,.

Find out more
More details are available at the SynthaSite is now Yola FAQ update.

We just released a great little tool that will help you really customize the look and feel of your site.

For any of our templates that have customizable banner images, you can now crop your images to easily create a banner image that looks fantastic.  Try it out.  You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in your site.

You can find this feature when you’re building or editing your site.  Look for the “Change Banner” or “Edit Banner buttons in the header banner as seen in the image below.

Happy site building!

On Tuesday 21 April we rolled out a round of bug fixes and new features. Here is a summary of what we released:

1) Added tools for editing text with images in the text widget. Many people have requested more layout options for their text and images. Now when you add an image inside a text widget you will see 3 new icons at the end of the text editing toolbar. These allow you to select “no wrap,” “wrap left” and “wrap right”. This way you can have text flowing around your image without having to do any HTML editing.

Tip: make sure you have an image selected in your text widget to see these icons.

2) Security measure to prevent accidental site deletions. We were distressed to find that too many people were accidentally deleting their sites and losing their hard work. In response to your feedback we have removed the “delete site” button from the My Sites page and you will be asked to type in confirmation before deleting a site.

3) We have released a new secure payment service allowing users to use a credit card to easily purchase domain names (in addition to the current option of paying via PayPal)

Thank you for your patience during the release. We hope you enjoy creating even better looking sites with the new tools available!

Many of you have told us you’re interested in making it easier for visitors to find your site, and that you’d like your site to feel professional.  You can achieve both of these goals with your personal web address, also known as a custom domain.

I’m excited to let you know that we’ve expanded our domains product offering so you can more easily find a name for your site, get names with extensions other than .com, and secure your website address for years to come.

• Find a website name: Sometimes the first name that comes to mind isn’t available.  To make it easier to come up with another one you like, we’ll show you a list of available options.

• End with more than .com: You can now register domains with .net, .org, .biz, and, of course, .com extensions.  And we’ll automatically configure the domains for you.

• Get multiple domains: You can assign more than one domain name to your site, which will all redirect users to your primary site.  This can also help visitors find you and improve search engine ranking.

• Lock in your domains: To ensure you keep your web site name for years to come, you can register your domain for up to 10 years.  By doing so, you’ll save up to 20% and save yourself the hassle of renewing every year.

• Keep your registration private: When you own a domain name, your contact details are publicly disclosed via the WHOIS database, which can result in unwanted emails.  With private registration, we place alternate information in the public database — so only relevant messages are forwarded and your junk email is reduced.

To take advantage of these new options, select “Buy my own domain name” when you first publish your site or “Upgrade to your own domain” when you update your existing site.

Enjoy!

SynthaSite just rolled out another release of new features today.

1) Layouts!
You asked for a way to create more professional looking sites.  We listened.  Click the new “Change Layout” button on the far left of your screen and select from 9 different options!  You can start with a blank page, or use a preset layout with drop zones to give you greater control over your content.  Drag and drop widgets vertically OR horizontally to easily achieve the best look and feel.  You can use the same layout for your whole site, or a different one on each page, as you prefer.  The layouts work with all of our existing styles, so whether you are new to SynthaSite, or an old hand, you can start making use of this feature today.  We look forward to seeing what all you wonderfully creative site builders do with it!

2) A new style!
We have added a new style called “Burlap” which is optimized for the new layouts.  The Burlap style supports custom banner and background images, and there are four beautiful color palettes to choose from.  There has never been a better time to build a new website, or give an old one a “make over”!

3) Searchable help topics!
SynthaSite has always offered tutorials and FAQs, but as we have grown into a more complex, feature rich tool we have recognized the need to grow our library of help files and make them searchable.  Check out our new support page, and use the searchbox to ask any site building questions you have.  If the answer isn’t there - drop us an email.  We will be sure to add it.
Additional features: submit a support query and check the updates online using your private code.  Vote on the most and least helpful topics.  Just read the basics or click through to other related topics if you want to learn more.

We are committed to making site building easier and more fun for all our customers.  We look forward to your feedback on our latest release!

We did an upgrade recently and here is a summary of the new features that were added:

1. More customizable styles. We have added 4 new styles, with 8 colour palettes each. In addition to being able to select from a variety of colour palettes, these styles allow you to change the background image. (Click on the Properties sidebar and scroll down until you see the option to browse for a background image) We have kept the styles as plain as possible so that you can customize them to fit content of your site
2. Improved text editing. The text widget should be much more stable and easy to use now. The text widget has been overhauled and we have addressed a number of bugs in the process.
3. Tell your friends when you publish or update your site! When you publish you will see an option to tell your friends about your site. Select from your address book or send messages to your social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Plaxo). Use our pre-written message or compose your own.

We hope you enjoy these new features!

We’ve just released the latest set of SynthaSite features. The highlight is that the color palette of many of our styles can now be changed. We were really keen to get this feature out as soon as possible so that we could get your feedback so please let us know what you think! In the future we will make it possible for you to set individual properties of the style so that you can customize the look of your site to your hearts content. We’ll be rolling out many more color palettes over the next couple of weeks so please check back soon for updates.

Another highlight is the File Widget which is useful if you want your site visitors to download a file from your website. We’ve also added map markers to the Google Map Widget. We don’t want anyone getting lost now do we!?

For detailed information about the latest changes and bug fixes please refer to our release notes.