MyRealPage | myrealpage.com : Tech Blog

Using myRealPage custom listing categories for precise listing placement [video]

2011-12-01T14:29:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you want very precise control over what listings are placed on what pages on your website. For example, you may want to enter some listings in a different language, or you would like to display new developments that are not listed on MLS®; in both cases, you want to display these listings separately, but you also don’t want to mix them with your regular listings, which we may be automatically importing from your Real Estate Board.

Listing Categories to the rescue! Watch this video for a brief tutorial.

In a nutshell, it’s simple: simply assign one or more categories in your Listing Editor under “Settings, SEO + more” tab, then use these categories when you select what listings to display in Listings weblet. You can now choose to specify what categories to include or exclude.

Hope you find this video useful! Have a comment: email me to bill-at-myrealpage.com

Updated myRealPage listing photo and form presentation (Video)

2011-11-21T17:15:00.001-08:00

We have just published a sweeping update to our Listings product that changes the way the listings “present” their photos and forms. We have always strived to make our listings maximally interactive: have the photo galleries, maps, contact forms, mortgage and send forms available everywhere, so it’s not a chore for the user to get the tool or information they need on the listing.

One of the challenges was to make the way listings show their photos and forms attractive and consistent, given the variety of different ways that myRealPage listings can be used online. For example, here is a list of ways myRealPage listings can be displayed:

As part of a myRealPage website (most typical)
As part of a 3rd party website through the “Embedded Listings” (javascript)
As part of a WordPress website through the WordPress plugin
As part of a Facebook Page
As part of any page through a simple iframe

Technical obstacles were pretty high; Internet Explorer support didn’t help matters at all; but we have done it and it’s here and live. Check out my quick video below to see what I mean.

Hope you like the new look! Let me know: bill-at-myrealpage.com

Use Social Media Sharing buttons on your listings with myRealPage

2011-09-29T10:18:00.001-07:00

There is a neat quick way to post your listing to Facebook. There are only two things you need to do:

Enable Social Media Sharing for your listings
Use the Facebook “Share” button to post your listing to Facebook

Here is where you can enable your Social Media Sharing: simply go to http://private-office.myrealpage.com and navigate to the Listings module:

Then simply go to your website, find the listing you want to post and click on the “Share” button:

Hope that was easy! Let us know what you think: feedback@myrealpage.com

Multi-map tabs in the “Interactive Map” weblet on myRealPage websites

2011-09-19T12:03:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share here a little enhancement that we have added to our “Interactive Map” weblet which you can now use if you have myRealPage website. In the past, our “Interactive Map” weblet was designed to let you easily add a particular map to your web page: a Google Map, or a Street View, or a Walkscore, or a Microsoft’s Bird’s Eye View. Now you can add all of them together and access them via tabs:

To configure your “Interactive Map” weblet is very easy, simply open up the weblet screen and find these new additional controls (the screenshot below is from the new web-based Private Office, but these controls have also been added to the “Map” weblet in the desktop version):

You can also WATCH A VIDEO about how to add multiple tabs to your map weblet here:

http://www.screencast.com/t/SAt1qitZon1

I hope you enjoy this new enhancement.

Using jQuery with myRealPage custom layouts

2011-09-14T11:41:00.001-07:00

In order to use jQuery with myRealPage custom layouts, you need to set jQuery library into the “noConflict” mode. This is what your code that includes jquery should look like:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script>
window.$j = jQuery.noConflict();
</script>

Note, the: window.$j = jQuery.noConflict(); This assigns the typical “$” jQuery symbol to the “$j” symbol which you can now use instead throughout your code. For example, instead of using this:

$( “.some-element” ).each( …. )

You will use this:

$j( “.some-element” ).each( … )

Custom code to include Wibiya toolbar on your myRealPage website

2011-04-07T11:00:00.001-07:00

There are tons of widgets out there these days and you may find some of them useful. Including them on your website with myRealPage is very straightforward: we have a special dedicated 3rd party weblet where you can simply copy and paste the include code. But there is also a fly in the ointment…

If you include a 3rd party widget code and that code fails it may ruin the display of your page, but even more importantly, it may interfere with our page editor and you may not even be able to correct this problem on your own without getting technical support involved. I have recently come across an example of this with Wibiya toolbar. It appeared to work for the website, but was causing errors during the page editing.

So I came up with a discretionary inclusion of the Wibiya toolbar code which will run it only when the page is displayed outside of the editing mode.

Typically you would be including something like this as your code:

<script src=http://cdn.wibiya.com/… type="text/javascript"></script>

INSTEAD, you should do something like this:

<script>
try
{
   var url = window.location.href;
   if( url.indexOf( "__manage__" ) == -1 ) {
      var s = document.createElement( "script" );
      s.src = "http://cdn.wibiya.com/……";
      document.body.appendChild( s );
   }
}
catch( e )
{
}
</script>

(Please replace “http://cdn.wibiya.com/….” with your Wibiya javascript code URL.)

Hope this helps!

Listings IDX plugin for WordPress update for Canada and US customers of myRealPage

2011-02-07T12:57:00.001-08:00

We have pushed out a new version of the WordPress IDX plugin which is now at version 0.6. The full public release of the plugin can be found here. In short, this is a listings IDX plugin for WordPress which can be used by myRealPage customers in select Canadian and US regions, in particular Greater Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Chicago, Greater Phoenix (Arizona), San Diego and others. You can download it from here:

Latest plugin version is: 0.6.2
Click here to download mrpWPIdx_0_6_2.zip

If you haven’t installed the plugin yet, please follow the instructions on the plugin HOWTO page here:

http://myrealpage-alias604.blogspot.com/2011/01/myrealpage-wordpress-plugin-how-to.html

If you installed the plugin already, this is how you can update it to the latest version (please note, that we intend to release the plugin to the WordPress repository once it’s out of beta, and then the updates will be more automatic; but until then the update needs to be managed manually):

Login into your WordPress administration
Click on “Plugins” and find “mrpWPIdx” plugin
Click on “Deactivate” and then on “Delete” links and confirm the deletion of all data
Click on “Add New” button and select “Upload” link
Select the new plugin “zip” and click “Install Now”
Click “Activate plugin” after the plugin has been uploaded.

The updated version fixes a couple of bugs. We expect the plugin to undergo several refinements and updates before it will leave the beta version. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions as we continue to improve the plugin code. Please leave your comments here or email me to bill-at-myrealpage.com

myRealPage Listing Showcases updated to better support WordPress plugin

2011-02-01T14:11:00.001-08:00

We have just updated our Listing Showcases to make them operate better with myRealPage WordPress IDX plugin. The update added a new button to the Listing Showcase list: “WordPress embed code”. In the resulting dialog, you can specify which page on your WordPress blog you would like to use for listing details display when the user clicks on a featured listing.

This new update gives you additional flexibility in how to organize your navigation and page flow in your WordPress blog using myRealPage WordPress Listings plugin. (Find out how this WordPress plugin works here)

Some example of showcases in action:

Let me know if you find this update useful: bill-at-myrealpage.com or leave your comments here.

myRealPage WordPress plugin: the HOW-TO

2011-01-28T16:40:00.001-08:00

myRealPage WordPress plugin, mrpWPIdx, is designed to bring the power and flexibility of myRealPage Listings solution to REALTORS® with WordPress websites. This includes the entire Listings solution, including Reciprocity (public listing searches), Virtual Office Website (VOW) support, Predefined Searches for building niche listing pages, Listing Showcases, and much more. Needless to say, all the listing content is dynamic and up-to-date, as one would expect from an IDX capable website. Currently, the plugin provides IDX WordPress integration in select regions in Canada and the US, including: Greater Vancouver area, Edmonton and Calgary areas, Saskatchewan, Victoria, Vancouver Island, San Diego, Greater Phoenix area in Arizona, Chicago and some others (call us for full details: 1-866-512-3876 or drop us a line to support@myrealpage.com)

myRealPage WordPress plugin was designed to inline the listing content inside the WordPress pages, and thereby make all the visible listing content accessible to search engine crawlers and SEO friendly. We have taken special care to dynamically generate suitable titles for listing details pages which are generated automatically as visitors navigate the listings. Combined with the power of Predefined Searches, these SEO benefits can be put to great use.

myRealPage WordPress plugin taps into the power of WordPress “shortcodes” and comes packaged with an integrated myRealPage Listing Shortcode Wizard which will help you configure what sort of listing content you would like to include on your pages, as well as some functional and visual options, such as width of the listing content, basic color theme, listing template, sorting order, etc. The plugin will allow you to embed:

Your and your office listings, including your listings split by status and custom defined categories, as well as combined with other hand-picked listings
Any Predefined Search, on its own or combined with hand-picked listings
A number of hand-picked listings which you can look up in Shortcode Wizard by MLS® numbers
An individual listing, including specifically details, photo, video or map view (great for building single property websites)
A standard or custom configured search form

myRealPage WordPress plugin is currently in beta and while in beta, it will be available to myRealPage clients who have Listings-only or Websites and Listings subscriptions. Please read instructions below on how to enable the use of this plugin on your account.

INSTALLATION and FIRST USE

In order to take advantage of myRealPage WordPress plugin, you will need:

A WordPress 3.0 or later installation (the plugin has been tested on 3.0 and may not function on prior versions, but your mileage may vary. Share with us if you get it to work on earlier versions)
IMPORTANT: Ability to install custom plugins in your WordPress; if you host with wordpress.com, make sure your subscription plan includes that ability
myRealPage Listings subscription at a minimum. If you have your website with myRealPage, then you also have Listings subscription. In order to sign up, drop us a line to sales@myrealpage.com or visit our website: http://myrealpage.com/try.html
IMPORTANT: You will need to have your account enabled for WordPress integration. Please send us an email to wp@myrealpage.com and request your account to be enabled. Please specify

your myRealPage username
the domain name of your WordPress blog

You will need to follow these steps to install and use the plugin:

Download the plugin:

Latest plugin version is: 0.6.2
Click here to download mrpWPIDX_0_6_2.zip
Make sure that your Settings->Permalinks in WordPress are set to:
/%postname%

The plugin has been tested with this setting and cannot be guaranteed to work with other permalink configurations (although your mileage may vary)
Install the plugin by uploading it in your WordPress admin area by clicking on "Plugins->Add New":

and activate it:
Create a blog post or a new page and find the “shortcode” buttons in the Visual (TinyMCE) or plain text editor:
Launch the Shortcode Wizard and select what listing content you would like to show, including additional functional and visual settings:

You are DONE. Your new page or post should now contain the listing content you have selected from the Shortcode Wizard.

THEME CSS SUPPORT

WordPress has a very large and vibrant community which has created a large number of free and paid themes. It would be impossible to make this plugin look perfectly in all of these themes due to a huge variety of CSS rules, given all the themes out there.

In order to kick things off, we have included built-in support for “twentyten” theme which comes as a default one for WordPress, as well as “Thesis 1.8” which appears to be one of the more popular ones.

We encourage graphic designers and WordPress developers to use the child theme mechanism to create CSS packages for other themes that would ensure that the listings brought in by myRealPage plugin look and work well. Such child themes can then be packaged as ZIP files and installed in individual WordPress websites. If you happen to create such a child theme, please do share: we’ll be happy to post it for public use!

FEEDBACK

We are launching this plugin as beta and we need your feedback to fix bugs and make things better. We also want to gauge the interest out there for this sort of product. Send us your thoughts to feedback@myrealpage.com or leave your comments here.

New wizard for myRealPage Embeddable Listings and IDX

2011-01-19T15:07:00.001-08:00

myRealPage has just published a pretty large update to its Listings product. I am especially thrilled about one of its components: the new wizard for the Embeddable Listings and IDX. You may already know that we have been offering a “portable” listings and IDX for a while now.

So far, our users have been able to embed from a fairly long but static list of scriptlets, that included agent and office listings, predefined searches and forms. Now, we have greatly boosted what you can do with the Embeddable Listings and IDX; and to help you do it, we have created a special wizard. Now, you basically have the same functionality and latitude in selecting what listings content you would like to show on your 3rd party website, as clients with native myRealPage websites. This means you can combine individual hand-picked listings with listing groups, such agent listings and predefined searches. You can embed standard search forms, you can embed individual listings; and you can also embed your listings categories, based on custom labels or listing status, such as “ACTIVE”, “SOLD”, type, etc.

In addition to being able to select virtually any listing content you like, you can also configure each embeddable code to have

a custom width
a certain basic color theme
a certain template
a certain sorting order
and a bunch of other visual and functional options

What you may also find useful, is that you can now fully create and edit your Predefined Searches and Search Forms right out of this wizard; basically never needing to go to another interface to finish the job. I know some of you have been asking for this.

We have also “webified” this wizard and made it accessible completely in your browser. If you would rather not have to login into the Private Office to configure your Embeddable Listing codes, simply go here and login.

Here are a few screenshots for your viewing pleasure:

Notice, editing tools for Predefined Searches below:

Individual Listing screen, notice the options available:

Search Form screen, notice the options available for form, as well as editing tools:

And here is how you get the embeddable listing code:

Let me know what you think: hope you like it.

QR codes: a case for an odd case

2010-11-12T09:54:00.001-08:00

This post looks at some possible uses of QR codes not through the printed media but online; for example, when displayed on a web page.

In case you haven’t heard, QR codes are the square looking tags like the one on the right that can be “scanned” by a smartphone, like iPhone, or Android, or BlackBerry via the built-in camera and a QR code application. After these codes are scanned, they are translated by the smartphone into a web link or other structured information, such a contact information.

There was a conversation thread on Twitter that was triggered by a question whether it’s valid to use QR codes directly online; say, you display a QR code on your webpage. My immediate reaction would be to say “mostly no”, and the arguments for that would go along these line:

If I am looking at a QR code on my computer, I already have access to the information electronically, so there is little use encoding that information into a QR code. If it’s a link, I should be able to simply click it, or bookmark it, or email it. etc.
If I am on a laptop, it’s not likely that I would want to look at the information behind the QR code on my mobile device, as generally, my laptop has a larger screen and is more capable than my smartphone (this, of course, is flawed, as we’ll see later).
If I am looking at the webpage already on my smartphone, the QR code is also not useful, since I am already interacting with the content.

However, there are indeed cases when QR code is useful even when shown directly online. There are, indeed, cases when it’s preferable to look at the online information on your smartphone rather than your laptop. Here are few plausible scenarios:

Contact Info. It is arguably more useful to have contact information in your phone than on your laptop, since you can interact better with that information on your phone, i.e. call or SMS the person. If you find a contact info on a website, it may be useful to have the QR code next to that information so a visitor can easily get it into their phone’s contact book by simply scanning it right from their laptop screen. For example, the QR code below does just that:
Map Location. If you are showing your business location on the map on a webpage, it may be useful to show the QR code to that location as well, so that your visitors can scan it into their phones, especially if they are actually going drop by and it may help them find the place. For example, the QR code below should show a Google Maps location on your phone:
Geo Location. Your smartphone can do a much better job determining your exact location than your laptop. If you are able to deliver information to a web visitor based on their current geographic location, then it’s preferable that they see this information on the phone. So, for example you can include a link on your webpage that says, “See current listings around you right now” and provide a QR code for that link. With myRealPage mobile search, it would be this:
Special smartphone links. There are special links that work best on a smartphone. For example, all Apple’s AppStore applications have their own special URL and even though you can open them in iTunes on your laptop, they are most useful to view on your iPhone, as you can download and use the application right away. For example, providing a QR code for you iPhone App on your website may make it easier for someone to download it right away by scanning the QR code on the iPhone right from their laptop screen.
It would also be really cool if you could scan a calendar event in a similar fashion, but it appears that at least on the iPhone it’s not yet possible. If you know if this can be done on Android, let me know. I think it’s just a matter of time though before this becomes possible.

I am sure these are just a few of the possible applications of QR codes online. However, I would still keep in mind that QR codes really shine when they help transfer information from a printed medium, such as a poster or signage, into a smartphone as that’s what they were designed for.

QR codes appear to be really catching on. Even though they are not universally adopted, it’s hard to argue with the fact that they are useful and can make access to information simpler for your audience. They don’t incur any cost as they can be easily printed and incorporated into your existing marketing materials or signage. As QR codes become more prominent and visible, people will get more curious and many will come to expect them, much as they now come to expect a mobile friendly version of your website or services.

In case you have missed, you have been able get the QR code for your contact information and for every listing in your Private Office from myRealPage for over a year now. See this post on where to find these QR codes in your Private Office.

Let me know if you know of other creative ways to use QR codes.

Online text editor for myRealPage websites to make live easier for website pros

2010-10-05T13:28:00.001-07:00

I would like to introduce an enhancement for myRealPage websites that I am hoping will find approval with graphic designers, web developers and tech-savvy clients who have used myRealPage website platform to build amazing websites. The enhancement in question is an integrated online editor to edit text based files: such as CSS, Javascript, XML, HTML, etc.

Here are a few reasons why this facility should make life so much easier for the pros:

myRealPage gives full access to javascript, CSS and any other text-based resources that may be necessary to build a website; all these resources live in the Web-Drive; and now they can be edited right from the Web-Drive (speaking of editing: do you remember that we have integrated a couple of cool image editors: a quick image editor and a full image editor, into the Web-Drive as well!)
myRealPage allows you to host HTML files on the Web-Drive which effectively can be used to host static HTML pages, such as forms that can be used with our Javascript API, or in a few cases: full custom mobile websites. Now these HTML files can be edited online, without the download/upload cycle.
If you are one of the clients who have a custom built website based on Next-Gen HTML Layouts, you (or your designer) may be pleased to know that you can now use the online text editor to edit your HTML Layout file which was uploaded as part of the ZIP file (see more details on Next-Gen HTML Layouts here). The template is edited as a plain HTML and any changes are reflected in your website right away.

I hope you like this new addition; many of you have asked for it. Let me know how it works out: bill-at-myrealpage.com or leave your comments here.

Neat trick with CSS for auto-sizing images and videos in featured listings and blog posts

2010-09-28T11:03:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share a little trick on how to use CSS to nicely style featured blog posts and listings with images and videos, as is often done in website sidebars.

Here are the objectives for this project (this assumes your website is running with table layouts, which is not applicable if your website uses our next-gen HTML layouts):

Make the sidebar a fixed width at all times, no matter what content is in it, and if the content is too wide to fit, simply “clip” it (it’s the lesser of 2 evils: the other having the sidebar stretching too wide and ruining the entire website layout)
Scale all the images and embedded videos in the sidebar to the *maximum* of a given width and have the height auto adjust. Note that the images that are narrower than the given maximum width will be left untouched.

Here is what you would need to do:

First, use Firebug in Firefox or “Inspect Element” facility in Safari or Chrome to locate the sidebar “TD” element. Then identify the parent table and write down its ID; for the purposes of this example, let’s say this ID is “tid_123”
In the page editor, choose “Edit Layout”, select the layout that contains your sidebar, click on the sidebar cell edit icon, and enter a custom CSS class into the “Advanced” tab in the dialog, for example “sidebar-cell”.
Write down the width of the sidebar cell if it’s assigned in the HTML.
Return to “Manage Website” screen, right-click on the page and select “Edit CSS”.
Enter the following values into your CSS editor:

	
table#tid_123
{
	table-layout: fixed;
}

td.sidebar-cell
{
	/* should be the width you wrote down for the cell */
	width: 175px; 
	overflow-x: hidden;
}

td.sidebar-cell img, 
td.sidebar-cell object, 
td.sidebar-cell embed
{
	/* should be the width that accounts for some margin */
	max-width: 165px;
	height: auto;
}

You will need to substitute your own width values, table ID and sidebar cell class.

This technique appears to work in IE7+, FF3.x, Safari and Chrome.

Hope this helps! Special thanks to Ben Chimes of liveinkits.ca for triggering this “discovery”. Let me know what you think or if you have better tips: leave your comments here or email me to bill-at-myrealpage.com

Customize your Image Banner Weblet to display page-specific images and transitions

2010-08-09T15:51:00.001-07:00

Yet another update on myRealPage systems today: we have just added the ability to customize your Image Banner weblet to make it display different images based on the specific webpage. Before, in order to achieve this effect, somewhat complicated CSS tricks needed to be used, or the page needed to be detached from the Master Template.

This new tweak in the Image Banner weblet allows all pages to remain dependent on the Master Template and yet any page can be configured to display a different set of images, and even a different transition effect. This is something you have asked us before and we hope you will find it useful now.

Do you have ideas or suggestions for our products? We would love to hear from you: leave your comment here or drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

Let web visitors with Google/Gmail accounts quickly signup and login into your Virtual Office Website (VOW) with myRealPage

2010-08-09T15:34:00.001-07:00

A little while ago myRealPage published a new feature for our Virtual Office Websites (VOW) which allowed users with Facebook accounts to easily signup and login on your website.

Today, we are pleased to extend this functionality to include web visitors who have a Google account. Yes, this does include people with Gmail, for example. You can quickly see that between Facebook and Gmail users, there is a pretty good chance that your web visitor falls into one of these two, or both, categories.

You can easily enable Google signup on your VOW toolbar through the Listing Options page in your Private Office.

Let us know your thoughts! Leave your comments here or drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

Welcome a new myRealPage weblet: Mortgage Calculator; mobile version included

2010-08-09T15:24:00.001-07:00

I am very pleased to introduce a new addition to the growing array of myRealPage weblets (little building blocks that comprise your web pages). This time it’s a “Mortgage Calculator”. We have built one from the ground up and included a few options with it to make it suitable for display as main content in a page, as well as in the sidebar.

More importantly, we have also made this Mortgage Calculator fit our mobile websites as well. In case you haven’t heard, myRealPage has launched an entire new Content Management System (CMS) designed to develop mobile websites. Much like our regular website editor, this system gives the ability to create, modify, brand and customize your mobile website as you see fit.

Mortgage Calculator weblet can be customized to display your own set of values for the Mortgage Amount, Down Payment, Interest Rate, etc.

Let us know what you think about: we always welcome feedback! Leave your comments here or drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com.

myRealPage listing and blog URLs get a facelift; plus more

2010-06-25T12:23:00.001-07:00

I am pretty excited about our new updates to the listing and blog URL schemes, as well as the other additions and tweaks in our blogging system. Here is a bullet list of changes:

Our listing detail URLs have been given a facelift to eliminate the query string parameters ("?listingId=1234”), and instead, the listing identification is now encoded in the URL path directly (e.g. “/mylistings.html/details-12132”). The same goes for listing photo, video and map pages
Our blogging system also received a URL facelift; all of the posts now automatically sport a human readable URL, such as “/blog.html/this-is-a-blog-post-on-a-subject…”; based on the blog post title
The blog URLs for archives and categories have also received updates (e.g. “/blog.html/archives/2010/05” and “/blog.html/categories/my%20listings”)
We have improved support for multiple blogs on our websites; such that a particular blog can be “anchored” into a page of your choice, but can still be accessed from a different blog page. All archive and category links are properly anchored to the blog being currently viewed
We added a very useful checkbox “Notify me about comments on this post” to the comment form; now your visitors can follow the discussion around your posts via email; they can also easily unsubscribe via a quick link in the notification emails
We have simplified configuration for external blog editors, and combined with multiple blog support, you can now attach your blog editor to a specific blog page and write for a specific blog only (by the way, you an also use our XML/RPC support in the blogging system to leverage services like Posterous, for example)
We have added an option to convert blog posts to plain text in our RSS (News) Weblet to allow for more control over the content display when featuring blog posts on your website
In order to address duplicate content concerns, we employed canonical links in both listings and blog post pages
We have also made sure that the old blogging and listing URLs still work and your counts in retweet and Facebook buttons show correct numbers for older posts
And on a slightly different note: we have changed the map markers on our Google Map Search to pins that also identify how many listings are found under a single pin (as often happens with condo listings); much like how it’s done in our Mobile Listing Search. We have also added a nicer feedback when drawing your own custom area on the Map.

Do you have feedback or need more info? Leave a comment here or drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

iPad: is it going to change your industry? some simple thoughts…

2010-06-10T14:54:00.001-07:00

I work for myRealPage, a company that builds website, listing and lead management products for REALTORS®. Since we are in the technology game, a valid question to ask is whether we should look at supporting iPad or whether we wait until it gains a larger market share or has a well understood applications in the real estate industry.

I am not a fan of “game changer” and “paradigm shift” rhetoric, but I want to share my thoughts on the subject from the MAYBE rather than WILL perspective. I will break it down into some points:

If you think of the iPad in the following terms, I think you will have an incomplete picture:

iPad is a big iPhone, why would I want a device that is bigger rather than smaller (think if you would choose a smaller LCD display over a larger one, think if the “Minority Report” UI would look as cool on a tiny panel instead of a large one)
I need a GPS to fully take advantage of the iPad (think about lugging this thing around with you; would you carry it around when not working? would you accept that you have to always carry a bag for it with you?)
It’s too big which makes it unwieldy as a mobile device (true, only if you believe it’s a “mobile” device, on par with how you understand this term when thinking about cell phones)
It has no keyboard, how can I ever type out my documents on it (true, if you want to use it as a work computer)

If you think of the iPad in the following terms, you may get a little fuller picture:

iPad may become a true “lifestyle” device: check mail, play games, watch video, photos, play music, browse the web, social media, etc. (remember what GUI did to business computers)
iPad is great for kids: even if you don’t use it yourself, you will quickly see that your kids can benefit hugely from it: not the games, but the learning programs: I speak from personal experience. So now, that your kids are using it, perhaps, you can set up your mail on it too, and maybe you can just check that website on it, instead of pulling out your laptop; and maybe find the answer to that question on the web, etc. etc. Before long, that laptop may never get pulled out of the bag at home.
It’s “magical”: that will earn me derision, I know; but you have to use iPad for a while to see why Apple is using this term in their marketing. A large display that you interact with directly with your fingers on the basis of simulated physics (swiping, pinching, spring-loaded effects, shaking, flipping, etc) and not through a proxy of a mouse pointer DOES make a huge perceptive difference, in my opinion.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: think of iPad as a “couch” device

So now that you got your clients/audience in this setting: sitting on their couches, getting used to making iPads part of their evenings at home, ask yourself a question: “is it going to change your industry”?

Scott Jenvey goes mobile: another do-it-yourself real estate mobile website on myRealPage platform

2010-06-04T11:56:00.001-07:00

Scott Jenvey of www.scottjenvey.com has decided to take a crack at creating an iPhone and Android friendly version of his website. He did it all himself (we helped him just a little to integrate the Mobile Listing Search, as well as his and his office listings into the mobile website). We have also hooked up his main website to automatically take the visitor to the mobile version if they access the main www.scottjenvey.com website on iPhone or Android.

Congrats, Scott, looking great:

myRealPage has previously featured another DIY (do-it-yourself) website by Sanjin Cvetkovic who, incidentally, served as an inspiration for Scott to proceed with his mobile website.

myRealPage listings have also been used in a few 3rd party mobile websites designed and implemented by debruyn design: Morris Reynar mobile website and Hafez Panju mobile website. Both of these professionally designed mobile websites feature deep integration with myRealPage mobile listings product.

On the subject of mobile, have you seen myRealPage new support for Apple’s® iPad™? Check it out.

Do you have questions or feedback? Leave your comment here to drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

SplitMango creates a WordPress plugin to feature listings, supports myRealPage feeds

2010-05-28T12:11:00.001-07:00

I came across an interesting WordPress plugin by SplitMango that targets REALTORS who have WordPress blogs and myRealPage websites. The plugin allows you to create featured listings out of myRealPage listing feeds. The plugin is very flexible and allows to feature any sort of listing feeds, even if it’s based on a Predefined Search, for example (which, of course, you can create for free with myRealPage, and you can use a slew of simple to advanced forms to base it on).

Check it out, it’s pretty cool!

Multiple Category support in myRealPage’s Agent Directory

2010-04-19T15:13:00.001-07:00

myRealPage has been offering a set of Real Estate Broker related website products for some time now. One of the most popular ones is the Agent Directory: it allows the broker’s website to display an interactive member roster of their office.

Today, we are adding another important feature to the Agent Directory product: support for multiple categories. Multiple categories will allow a broker to create and assign multiple custom categories or “labels”, if you will, to each agent record, such as “Managing Broker”, “Commercial Agent”, “Residential Agent”, etc. and even assign ordering index to make some records always show up first in the lists. Then, the broker can configure its Agent Directory weblets to show all or only some of these categories on specific web pages.

In case you haven’t heard of Agent Directory before, it is a pretty sophisticated product and has a multitude of features, here are just a few:

Create agent records with biography and photos; assign them custom titles and languages, and offices
Place an Agent Directory on any page in your website, and let visitors search the directory by name, language, or alphabetic index
Create instant websites for your agents via myRealPage’s instant website support based on several pre-built web templates of your choice and liking
Automatically connect agent records with their auto-imported MLS® listings
Connect several broker accounts into a “mega” Agent Directory
Let agents modify their own biographies and photos
much, much more

Let me know what you think: leave a comment here or drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

Next-Gen Layouts and Templates go beta at myRealPage; warning: may be very hot!

2010-04-14T16:18:00.001-07:00

I know that one should write with a cool head, but I find it very difficult to write about the launch of our next-gen layout support and keep cool about it. This has been a much requested, engineered and anticipated feature by many (and mostly by me! :)
The idea behind it is simple and it builds on an already existing facility: myRealPage Custom Templates. Our Next-Gen Layouts can do everything that the Custom Templates can, but very importantly, they can also be configured to give the end user full control over the content IN ANY PART of their custom pages. This means that you can create your Next-Gen Layouts using whatever layout techniques you choose, mock these up on your own computer, then identify which areas you would like to carry our weblets, then zip it all up and apply it to either a master template or an individual page on your website. At all times, your Next-Gen Layout based templates are fully functional standalone on your own computer.
Another cool feature in the Next-Gen Layouts is that they support fully editable nested layouts based on myRealPage stock layouts. And all of this is in the end user’s hands: we love the DIY (do-it-yourself) philosophy when it comes to websites.
I have put together a video demonstrating what myRealPage Next-Gen Layouts can do. (It’s a bit too wide to fit in this page, hence I am referencing it externally):

You can also download the ZIP file containing myRealPage Next-Gen Layout example used in the video here.

And here you can view the website where I applied myRealPage Next-Gen Layout.
You will also want to know what are the recognized myRealPage id’s for your HTML containers in the Next-Gen Layouts. Here they are:

mrp-header
mrp-footer
mrp-sidebar
mrp-sidebar2
content-well
mrp-container1
mrp-container2
…
mrp-container10

IMPORTANT: Please note, your Master Template layout needs to include a container with ID “content-well” in order for the pages’ content to be merged properly with the template’s layout HTML.
IMPORTANT: Please do not use “styles.css” as a name for your custom CSS stylesheet, it is currently a reserved name.
If you have comments, please leave them here to drop me a line to bill-at-myrealpage.com

myRealPage adds more customization support for individual listings

2010-04-01T14:42:00.001-07:00

We have added a few very simple but also very powerful options to our Listing Editor which allow you to customize your individual Listing Details display. Since, there is increasingly more information that can be displayed to focus and highlight various aspects of a particular listing, like building information, flash driven document browser, etc; we have added an ability to embed this custom information in different places in your Listing Details display: top, middle and bottom. This is beyond and above the already existing ability to add documents, photographs, videos, virtual tours, external links, etc. This is for the things we haven’t thought of yet, but you may have.

We have also enabled a setting that allows you to designate a particular listing as a “Reciprocity” listing which will cause our system to display the necessary disclaimers and icons; as may be regulated by your Real Estate Board. If you like, you can even provide your own disclaimer, if you manage listings in a region where we don’t have a data agreement with the local Real Estate board.

I am always interested in your feedback: feel free to leave a comment here or drop me an email at bill-at-myrealpage.com

Public Open House opt-in feature with myRealPage

2010-03-27T18:29:00.001-07:00

As of a few days ago, myRealPage has gained access to public open house information from several real estate boards, including Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Chilliwack [correction: Calgary and Edmonton exhibit some data issues on the real estate board’s database side; we’ll work with the board to rectify them]. We were quick to make this information available in all our public listing searches. Since, then, we heard some concerns from REALTORS® who believe that this feature should be reserved for use on an opt-in basis only by the website owner. We decided to follow through with that and err on the side of caution, as it is important for us that you remain in the “driver’s seat” with your website and listings and we don’t jeopardize your online strategies with our new feature additions and enhancements.

Hence, we created an opt-in for the public open houses. You will be able to specify whether you would like to show the open houses in your public (Reciprocity) searches, whether you would only show it to logged in VOW users, or not at all. You will find this setting in the Listing Options:

We are currently in talks with our real estate boards that we already have data agreements in place with, to provide the same open house information to their respective members. We will update you as we get more information.

If you have suggestions or feedback, please leave your comment or drop me a line to: bill-at-myrealpage.com

Custom Google map icons in your Map Listing Views and Showcases with myRealPage

2010-03-21T15:55:00.001-07:00

We have just added a new feature in the “Graphic Options” for your listings with myRealPage which allows you to set custom Google map icons for map oriented listing views and showcases. Along with this, we have also added a couple of extra special icons to indicate sold properties and sold properties for multiple listings in exact same locations (happens often when there are multiple apartment units in one building).

Custom icons can be set for:

Regular listing markers
Sold Listing markers
Multiple listing markers
Multiple sold listing markers (when all listings under the multiple marker are sold)

You can also set custom shadows for each of the icons for a complete custom look.

The icons will change the way your listing markers appear in the “Map” list view, as well as in “Multi-Listing Google Map” Showcases.

We hope you will find this feature useful. We are interested in your feedback and suggestions. Feel free to post your comments here or send me an email to bill-at-myrealpage.com