I have created a directory listing site with wordpress manually to see how flexible is it. The result was quite satisfy for me ;). I know there is a directory plugin available and I have tried it and sad to say it is not what I want. Let me explain what I have done :

In frontpage, there is a welcome message at the top (of course, it will be always on top). Immediately after the welcome message, there’s a News section for me to post news update. Every news I post will be automatically sent to all customers who have an account with the site. At the sidebar, there is a list of category & sub-categories which uses javascript to expand the list of each parent category. When a visitor click on the parent category, it will bring them to that particular category and all sub-categories will be shown at the top of the listing. All listings within the parent category & sub-category will be shown and the user can pick a sub-category from there. I have tweak the stylesheet to span the subcategory through multicolumn.

When the user click on the company name, it will show its particulars. There is also an enquiry form at the bottom which is expandable and foldable. This way, I can save more space. The comment form is also expandable and foldable to save space and this looks more like a directory. Every submission of the enquiry form will be delivered to the respective company emails.

There is also a feature listing appears at the most right sidebar. It is use for customer who subscribe to the feature listing package. There is also a list of 5 recent submissions shown at the sidebar. In each listing, there is also a Hit Stat and Rating.

A Web site that leaked details of Windows XP Service Pack 3 over the weekend claimed that the update includes several new features, including some borrowed from Windows Vista.

According to NeoSmart Technologies, Windows XP SP3 build 3205, which was released to beta testers on Sunday, includes four new features among the 1,000-plus individual hot fixes and patches that have been issued since XP2’s debut three years ago.

Features backported from Vista, said NeoSmart, include Network Access Protection (NAP), an enterprise policy enforcement technology that inspects client PCs before they access a corporate network, then updates the machines if necessary or blocks them if they don’t meet specified security criteria.

Other additions range from a kernel module containing several encryption algorithms that can be accessed by third-party developers, to a new Windows activation model that doesn’t require users to enter a product key.

Microsoft had previously announced SP3 support for NAP, which is part of Windows Vista and will be included in the not-yet-finalized Windows Server 2008.

Windows XP SP3, which Microsoft has said will be released early in 2008, will be one more move by the developer to extend the lifespan of the six-year-old operating system. Last month, for example, Microsoft gave Windows XP a five-month reprieve by pushing back the end of retail sales and sales of XP-powered PCs by large resellers to June 30, 2008.

And last week, Microsoft debuted a new “get-legal” program that lets companies purchase large quantities of Windows XP Professional licenses through their usual resellers.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment on the leak, or the new features touted by NeoSmart.

Source : PC World