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1998

• Established in October 1998, by co-founders Eric Overfield and Greg Snow, in Davis, Calif., PixelMill.com® (www.pixelmill.com) launched as the Web template online retailer of Internet solutions provider Advantrics, LLC.
• One week after PixelMill.com launched, accomplished Web developer from Australia, Paul Vineburg (1963-2001), began selling products as The Web Template Company's first outside developer -- quickly leading PixelMill to growing its collection of 'theme' designers from around the world.

1999

• PixelMill develops a strategic foothold and leadership role in the budding industry of pre-packaged, quality graphic design elements for web sites and presentations.
• PixelMill continues building its third-party developer network with the introduction of more than 15 designers, developers, and graphic design companies from around the world.
• Microsoft includes PixelMill templates in the FrontPage 2000 beta CD.

2000

• At-home business growth in the Web building arena emerges as influential trend - initial tech-industry layoffs and volatility forces many to find creative outlets -- building Web sites gets profitable.
• Jason Reckers joins Advantrics as Chief Operations Officer with a focus to drive the future growth of PixelMill Web site themes and presentation templates, implementing the strategies for building products that met customer's design and usability needs, and minimized support requirements while increasing the availability of live support and pre-written support materials.
• Corrie Haffly joins Advantrics' PixelMill business and soon becomes Lead Web and Graphics Designer.

2001

• In the wake of the Dot Com bust, PixelMill capitalizes on the combination of a growing interest by businesses to have a web site and the backlash to the extremely high costs (at the time) of a custom-built web site. PixelMill's position as "The Web Template Company" earns it business media coverage, accolades from developers from several continents, and is rewarded with an increasing pool of quality developers.
• To assist its customers, and as part of its initial foray into consumer education and training, PixelMill constructs its own Web site to guide each user through the entire site-building process. The company also has authored and published on-site and downloadable tutorials - based on its own experiences with its own products, tools and resources - to make site building in Front Page quick and easy.
• PixelMill launches its monthly online newsletter that provides helpful tips and information on how Web builders can get the most out of PixelMill products, the programs they work with, and the environments in which they operate. Additionally, PixelMill's e-newsletters deliver insights regarding new technology, trends, and special applications that affect Web publishing and help customers find better and more efficient ways of using PixelMill.com. More than 15,000 subscribers take advantage of the valuable information available only in the PixelMill newsletter.
• PixelMill shows its innovation in the strategy of building templates by providing embedded Macromedia Flash movies -- the start of its modular Web site building solutions strategy -- that allow users to add customizable text without editing the original Flash movie file. Its move makes the complex integration of Flash easy for PixelMill's core customer base.

2002

• April 2002: PC Magazine recognizes PixelMill as a, "...clearing house with over 20 developers in a combined catalog of more than 1,000 themes and templates," in its feature story "70 Assists For A Winning Site" by Edward Mendelson (http://www.pcmag.com)
• PixelMill steps up to deliver a broader selection of Web templates for Macromedia Dreamweaver, plus raw HTML templates making PixelMill's products compatible with nearly any Web authoring software.
• Competitors emerge in the Web-template space -- PixelMill recognizes the pressure, redoubles its commitment to quality standards, enhances its live customer service options, improves its developer network, expands its array of tutorials and resource tools for its loyal customers, and tackles copyright concerns head on as most potent competitive advantage.
• PixelMill takes a stand to differentiate itself from competitors and works to ensure all its products are guaranteed royalty free and free of copyright concerns. This guarantee brings to market the first ready-to-use, legally approved and trusted source of original Web templates and themes that allow the end-user to rapidly build distinctive Web sites and presentations.
• PixelMill, under the auspices of Advantrics, LLC., co-founds the consortium working to establish Dynamic Web Template Interchange Guidelines (DWTIG). Using third party Dynamic Web Templates (DWTs), DWTIG provides webmasters the ability to cross over (interchangeability) from one design to another with relative ease. The goal of the DWTIG is not to standardize design; rather, its goal is to standardize the method in which the content is added to a DWT through Editable Regions within the design. The result: the end user (e.g., PixelMill.com customers) are assured that changing from one DWTIG Compliant design to another will result in a relatively seamless operation.

2003

• PixelMill gains increased credibility and respect within the global web development community and enters into influential partnerships:
  • Microsoft®: In 2003, PixelMill, through its Vivid Office brand, packaged and developed a number of complementary products, design templates, and instructional guides featured in the Microsoft Right Tools Toolkit and on www.sharepointcustomization.com. PixelMill experts also developed effective strategies to help users implement these designs into their Windows® SharePoint® Services Web sites.
  • Corbis®: In 2003, PixelMill entered a licensing agreement with visual solution provider Corbis and Corbis Bizpresenter to build Web Site Template products using Corbis images - a licensing first for Corbis for building Web site templates. PixelMill and Corbis also are co-developing, and will soon launch, an extensive line of vertical market templates utilizing Corbis's top-quality images.
• PixelMill, with input and guidance from PayPal, delivers database driven templates that is the catalyst to the subsequent trend towards dynamic, database-driven Web sites combined with Web-based services.
• PixelMill once again steps up commitment to consumer education, industry involvement, and self-monitoring initiatives. It starts this year with an expansion of its tutorial guide resources to assist site builders in launching new enterprises and personal pursuits via the Web.

2004

• PixelMill's digital library becomes the Internet's largest selection of quality templates and tools with more than 4,000 Web, Microsoft® FrontPage®, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and HTML templates, plus hundreds of Microsoft FrontPage Themes and PowerPoint® templates
• By this time, 204.3 million Americans now have access to the web from home, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. That's nearly 75 percent of the total US population. Concurrently, Web site growth is exploding giving rise to a hot online marketplace for buyers and sellers of Web templates and PixelMill.
• PixelMill's growth closely correlates with the growth track of the Internet, e-commerce sales, and the proliferation of Web sites. Its business-oriented product mix, in particular, has effectively emerged to serve the small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) community, with strong representation from retail, real estate, consumer goods and services, travel, education, banking, telecommunications, law, media, and publishing sectors.
• PixelMill's Lead Designer, Corrie Haffly, publishes first Photoshop article and begins blogging and contributing to SitePoint's online web resource site.
• The cornerstone of any trustworthy software company is solid support. Considered one of the industry's most authoritative and innovative sources of Web templates, PixelMill differentiates itself by providing site builders with live stand-out support. PixelMill establishes a new standard of customer service, offering customers receive four core levels of support:
  • Online support documents and tutorials to answer questions for all skill levels,
  • Support straight from the developer/designer of the product,
  • PixelMill expert staff who readily answer questions by email or phone, and
  • LiveChat technology is introduced at www.pixelmill.com, providing more immediate live help for customers, especially the growing international customer base.

2005

• PixelMill completes a year long investment to launch a new PixelMill, re-coded from the ground-up with the latest in compiled code strategies and a more robust network infrastructure designed to support the company's future expansion. With an early vision toward the coming buying habits and uses of the PixelMill site and products, PixelMill's team focuses on building a .NET based site to meet the needs of customers, partners, and future international expansion.
• PixelMill signs image licensing agreement with Jupiterimages to include stock photography in web and PowerPoint templates.
• PixelMill becomes the first online provider to offer tableless CSS, standards-based web site templates.

2006

• PixelMill's business model gains traction, the company incorporates, expands executive team and continues its profitable streak - 8 years running
• Advantrics' COO Jason Reckers takes leadership role as President & CEO of PixelMill Inc.
• PixelMill's Corrie Haffly publishes The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web design Tips, Tricks & Techniques with publisher SitePoint. "The ultimate Photoshop CS2 compendium for web designers" - SitePoint
  • Customer Review: "Easy to read, easy to reference and very usable tips & tricks. Excellent diagrams and instructions to follow from beginning to end. Wish I'd had this book when I first started using Photoshop-I would recommend this for classroom use as it is so easy to follow."
• Microsoft features PixelMill in Local PC Builder Program promotional and advertising campaign.
• PixelMill, in signing a new image licensing agreement with Getty Images to include stock photography in web and PowerPoint templates, becomes the only web template company to have image licensing agreements with the top three stock image providers (Jupiterimages, Getty and Corbis)
• PixelMill launches catalog of ProStores-enabled templates designed to work with eBay's off-eBay eCommerce solution
• PixelMill signs image distribution agreement with Jupiterimages to sell stock photography from Jupiterimages' AbleStock and Photos.com collections
• Backed by live, knowledgeable support personnel, PixelMill launches its "20-Day No Risk guarantee."

2007

• PixelMill advances its readiness to serve as the Web's central source of solutions for the site builder looking to capitalize on the benefits of Web2.0 -- PixelMill evolves into the Web's premier one-stop-shop featuring high quality templates, images, video, audio, add-ons, platform-specific solutions, training, and custom services for developers' Web design needs.
• PixelMill launches professional series of Webinars, education and training programs to support the Web design and site building experience
• PixelMill signs Agency agreement with Jupiterimages to streamline image licensing by a growing PixelMill designer network for Web and PowerPoint templates.
• PixelMill launches catalog of TypePad-enabled templates designed to work with SixApart's TypePad blog solution.
• PixelMill signs Royalty Free Music distribution agreement with Jupiterimages to sell music tracks for use with PowerPoint and Web templates.
• PixelMill shifts gears to meet the dynamic impact of Microsoft Expression Web and SharePoint Designer's arrival in the marketplace. PixelMill continues to deliver Web design solutions for multiple Web platforms, all while stepping up tutorials and training, plus the modules designers need to quickly adapt to creative shifts on the Web. PixelMill continues to train its loyal community in how to choose Web authoring software to accommodate the Web's future evolution.

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