jerseyjoe

A proper hosting service would have backups that they would resinstall, without charge, in a just a few minutes in response to an email or phone call at any hour of the day or night. **edited as you were advertising your services.

First of, the embarassing thing is, I *am* the hosting provider. Yes, it is localhost. The problem is (to try and explain it in different words, hoping that someone with insight will see where I'm going wrong) that if I have a web site whose account name is "john" and use the MySQL tool in cPanel to create a database named "smithdb" it is then converted to "john_smithdb". Then, using the same tool I add a user named "smithuser", it is converted automatically to "john_smithuser" Step 3 has a field "Database Name" In that fiield I put "john_smithdb" The next field Database user gets "john_smithuser" (no quotes in any of these, of course.) But the CC INstall does not like that - despite the fact the the on-screen examples seem to say exactly that. Yes, I know that for the Username field it might be asking for "smithdb_smithuser". The on-screen example is horribly ambiguous on this point. But I've tried that too. Nope. All variations I can think of return the same rejection error. That's why I am asking someone who knows what I'm rtlaking about to spell ot the exact words for each field.

By now you think I would know. I am stuck at installation Step 3 trying to install new cart. So far, each installation has been a hit and miss, trial and error, stumbling my way through all the vaious combinations of words in the form. This time I still am getting the rejection. I don't know why this step should be so difficult??? The next vers of CC must provide more explicit instructions at Step 3. If someone more knowledgeable than me (that leaves only 99% of you) would write syntax for step 3, I will ask that it be pinned. Here's what I have created in cPanel's MySQL controls database name: thebase (which the MySQL panel converts to "mydomain_thebase") user: cartuser (which is converted to "mydomain_cartuser") so in Step Three form - Database Hostname: localhost Database Name: using the above database name - what *exactly* goes here. Is it "mydomain_thebase" or simply "thebase" Database Username: what *exactly* - using the above database name - goes here. Is it "mydomain_cartuser" or "cartuser" Or something else that is not obvious to me. TIA

Somehow I think there's more to this question. But at face value, just install a copy of the PDF on your server and then put a link to it whereever you wish. If you expect to have a number of PDFs, good practice would be to create a folder for them. Otherwise, just put the file in your store's root folder. That do it?

see my comments elsewhere on the problems of that big banner wasting all that real estate on every page. Also see my standard rant about hi-resiolution interfaces that ignore all the potential customers who use 800 by 600 monitor resolution. Search on my CC member name and you'll find them. Other than those two not-so-minor issues, it's a handsome customization. Would you share with us how you integrated the forums and what sofwtare you did that with?

what they said + 1) that logo is overpixelated - and taking up waaaaay too much valuable real estate. By having that huge logo atop every page you are shouting at the visitor and assuming that he has no clue that he is where he is. Take a lesson from how the the media big boys use a logo. Repetition is what matters, not size. They are much too savvy to waste that space at the top of a page with their own logo. http://www.cnn.com/ http://www.abc.com/ Note that they often use that space to generate advertising revenue. After all, the visitor already knows where he is. Why waste that space to tell him what he already knows. Also, a huge logo might easily be taken as the Internet equivalent of an admission of a certain personal inadquacy, "Mine's bigger than yours." (That makes it better . . . right? right???) MSN http://www.msn.com/ may be our favorite voodoo doll but you have to admit that they do know how to use that same top-of-the-page space with a logo only 35px high. As the famous Volkwagon advertisment of the late 60s used to say when they started the Sensible Auto Revolution, "Small is better."

I was about to go off into my usual dreary rant against black backgrounds when I realized I am probably not alone in my belief that black backgrounds, regardless of the text colors used, are a really bad design idea because of problems they cause with legibility. I was going to moan, as I usually do, about how the idea of a web site is to communicate information and then I was going to cite the famous MacLuan dictum about the effectivenes and efficiency of any message being the 100% responsibility of the sender. I'm not going to say either of those things (heh-heh). Instead, before commenting, I Googled the phrase "web site legibility" (as well as the variant "website legibility" and found that there are actual research results that address the exact words of the question " . . . colors, whats working whats not. ect. . . ." Here's a chart of legibility of color combinations. http://www.tetridia.com/132 Note especially the analysis comment that supports what my own eyes tell me - and what I learned 50 years ago when studying print advertsing design, " . . . maximum readability can be achieved by using black text on white background. . . . " Hope that helps . . . but frankly, in my experience, the position I espouse against black backgrounds is never accepted. It's usually an unexpected and therefore unwanted message. However, as Galilleo supposedly whispered when putting resarch results up aganst opinion, " . . . but it does move . . ." So, while black backgrounds are kew-el, they are more difficult to read. If the purpose of a web site is to sell to as wide an audience as possible, legibilty - not personal aesthetics or kew-el-ness - is all that matters. The issue is not Art (note capital letter) but Commerce. Now would someone please help me get down off this soapbox without hurting myself?

Since the problem has been solved, I hope the moderators don't object to an off-topic question. I'm curious to know if anyone under 40 years old knows the origin of the expression, "The penny dropped" as slang for, "completed." It is almost certainly not known to American's of any age, unless they lived or served as soldiers in England up to the end of the 50s. In a similar manner, we in the US use expressions such as "dial the phone" and use the word "record" to describe a piece of music, long after evolving technology has left the words without application. OK, I'll explain it - as I understand it - and welcome correction or update. For some while was common in England, that living quarters were heated with a small natural gas appliance that required the insertion of a penny coin in a metering device built into the appliance. When the time ran out, the coin dropped with an audible clunk. The "penny dropped." No more heat. Am I right that with the passage of time, advances in technology - and of course inflation - that this expression survives its original meaning?

Yes, CC is heads and shoulders above the alternatives. As for using Fantastico to install CC - or any other software, that's fine for testing and playing arou8nd while you dceide which cart(or forum, or blog, etc.) you want. I own a hosting comapny. I tell my clients I will not provide advice or support for any software installed by Fantastico. Not because Fantastico is defective. It's not. But the Fantastico version is almost always one or more versions out of date. In the case of CC, that means you will miss mission-critical updates and bug fixes. Regarding the tools to edit the files - Dreamweaver is too much of a monster for me - not to mention the cost. For editing PHP and CSS, try free PHPdesigner (http://www.mpsoftware.dk/). PHPd does allow for opening PHP and CSS files directly from the server and saving to the server - but I prefer to edit on the desktop in PHPd. I edit in that, use Alt-Tab to flip to another window where I have WS_FTP open to the local folder, F5 to refresh, drag the file over to the open server. Alt-Tab again to see the results in the browser. Then Alt-Tab back to PHPdesiner for more edits. Sounds complicated but really is not once you program your fingers.

You are not daft - at least not on this issue. I used SmartFTP for a few years but then, after uopgrading my server, the problems began. First some of my hosting customers complained about dropped connections, both up and down. I thought it was their ISP because I host a few Caribbean web sites. The local ISP (Caribsurf) is a monopoly owned by Cable and Wireless (know locally as "Careless and Worthless"). But then from here in NY, especially on longer loads over both dialup and broadband, I too encountered the problem. The connection would drop. Retries timed out, even despite configuring the software for 120 second long retries. The problem persisted regardless of SmartFTP, CuteFTP, FileZilla, etc - Then I switched to Ipswich's WS_FTP. End of problem. The connections were more robust, meaning fewer lost connections. On the rarer occasions when they happened, the software re-established the connection on the first automatic try and resumed the transfer. Why WS should do what the others could not, I don't know - but what matters to me is, it does. Hope that helps.

That may not be a good idea. Yes, with Front Page you can publish, as they call it (which is really just an FTP-lite in disguise), or you can use the import / export feature. I use FP almost daily to support a large number of sites by small site that my server hosts so I am aware that FP has a habit of inserting things in files and that can be a source of weird problems. Far better off to learn how to use a regular FTP program. I use WS-FTP Pro by Ipswich. Not free, but I think it is the best of breed, espcially in maintaining a connection on long uploads over shaky dialups. But if budget is an issue, try either SmartFTP or FileZilla. Both are free. They are not, in my experience, as rock sold as WS, but iof you have a good connection, they'll do. WS_FTP does offer a free elvuation version but I think it stops working after 30 days. SmartFTP flips over to nag-mode after a trial period but you can ignore it forever. For editing your PHP and CSS files, Front Page is just not right. My favorite for that is PHP Designer (www.mpsoftware.org). You can open files on the server, edit and save directly to the server. Hope that helps . . .

Yes, the index page is old news. It will be there until we finish a complete reiew of the site, do some testing and update the line of products. But the store itself is online at: http://www.vikolya.com/store

The recent unpleasantness between the Crown and the Colonies is currently the subject of some excellent documenatries on our Public Televison Station here in New York - and many other USA cities. We just saw four hours about the rise of George Washington from a junior officier in the Colonial Army under His Majesty King George, to General of the Revolutionary Army, father of his country and permanent rebuke, by good example, to certain current office-holders whom it is distasteful to name. (And these emails are probably being scanned by the CIA anyway.) The previous week we had a few hours of television about Ben Frankin, followed last night by two hours about John Adams. I'm sure Lord North would have been amused, if not understandably affronted. There's a Cube Cart point to this drivel. Despite all the contentious events of the final quarter of the 18th century that continued well into the first quarter of the 19th, I think we can safely say, the wounds are healing - and war is over. Evidence? Her Royal Majesty's Obedient Servant (well let's not get too carried away - let's just say a citizen of England) named Aikdo - and one of the moderators of CubeCart forums, has just completed an upgrade and revival of a badly damaged CC that had been destroyed in v3.06 by a malicious attack. The site www.vikolya.com is now up and running 3.08. My client is thrilled. I am greatly relieved. Aikdo's fee was modest. The work was prompt and excellent. Thank you Aikdo! JerseyJoe

I took a different approach because there are too many reasons for me to retain Windows, as much as I wish to shift to Linux. I now have both OSes on the same box - but NOT on the same drive. When I could see I was was starting to outgrow my 20g HD (I have the same box now for 6 years or so - upgraded incerementally as needed) I installed a new, larger drive - and moved eveything over to it. I then wiped the smaller, original HD. On that older drive, I installed a Linux distribution (there are many flavors so take your pick). Since Linux ineds a much smaller footprint, the 20g drive is still, three years later, quite roomy. In the process of installing Linux, I added a simple app that comes up as I boot the machine - it offers me a choice of either the Windows HD or the Linux. If I don't answer in 15 seconds, it opens whichever OS I have set as the default. From the Linux HD I can read all the Win directories and open many of its files. There are progs that I could install that would make most Win apps run under Linux but I have not tried them. Good luck!

There is but one rule for a happy life . . . never argue with your wife regarding matters of taste, life style, residence, religion, child-raising, clothing, politics, food, furniture arranging, dish washing, table manners, choice of reading material, where to sit in the movies or concert hall, soap for the shower, rugs, paint, brands of ice-cream, color of the family auto, where to part a child's hair, whch side of the bed you sleep on and which brands of tea and coffeee are allowed on the shelf. Oh, and never dispute anything about anything. Above all, keep in mind that your wife is, as Rumple of the Bailey used to say, "She WHo Must Be Obeyed." Trust me on this. In my 73 years I have been well-trained by a series of wives. P.S.: other than previously noted issues, the web site is fine. Best of luck . . .

I see that skin - but where's the trees?

I'm looking at that link but don't see anything that looks like what you describe. It's a page for a skin that is bascially black with very little color in it in. Where are the "boxes" you are talking about? Are you using the word "boxes" the way we normally use it around here - as a graphic element containing links? That linked page has its boxes (some people call them "blocks") running down the left side with a tan background - and nothing visible behind them. Give us more info and let's see if we can help you . . .

Let me extend the previous advice. You would be better off avoiding the pre-installed version of ANY server side program such as CubeCart. I run a hosting business and all my clients have cPanel which comes with Fantastico. It permits you to install any of a few dozen excellent applications. I tell every one of my customers (I know each of them personally) to use Fantastico only for the information about the excellent popular apps it describes. When you open Fanstatico and click on an item, you get not just a description of the product and an simple inmstaller, you also get a link to the home page of the original source. The original source almost always has a newer version than the one offered in Fantastico. For example, your Fantastico is offering you 3.05 but a fast evolving CC is now about to reach 3.08 - and this is a very imporant upgrade for bugs and security issues. The upgrade will probably be released so soon that it would be a mistake to not wait for it. Your web hoster's version, expecially if it coming through Fantastico, may go for a month or more before it upgrades. For example, 3.06 has been out for at least two months as I recall - and 3.07 has been around maybe a month. A secuurty pacth for 3.07 came out almost the same day. So how do you install yourself after you download 3.08 (when it comes out)? It seems complicated but it's not. In anticipation of 3.08, go get yourself either SmartFTP or WS_FTP. The fomer is free for about 30 days and then goes to a nag-screen. The latter is free for 30 days - and then I think it stops working - but it is the better of the two and worth the fee. I've had problems with spontaneous dropped connections using all other FTPs on some servers - but never with WS_FTP. The CC installation step that gives most people a problem involves installing the right information in the CubeCart five-step script. I know I get crazy when I get an error at step 3 - until I recall how the script wants the database name and user name - and then all goes well. Don't be intimidated by the direct installation. You'll get the latest CC version - and you'll be empowered to keep it updated and modified and skinned, using the same skills you learned at the start. Further, you'll find here's no shortage of good free support here - just make sue that you ask in the appropriate sub-forum - and avoid generic subject lines such as "help me." Describe your problem in more specific terms and more people will open the message. Good luck

BTW - in checking out your site, I see you offer a SiteMap script. Is it compatible with Google's site map rules and will it create an SM for any site written in PHP/MySQL, such as a WordPress Blog or an Invision Forum?

Actually, unless they have changed their policy in recent times, PayPal will not allow a member to have more than one account. I had applied for a second account about two years ago and was told then that it's a big no-no. I had a similar response from Google when I wanted multiple AdSense publisher accounts. Probably a security issue. I can imagine a few ways in which multiple PayPal accounts would facilitate mischief . . . hmmm . . . in fact if I . . . naaaah - prison just ain't what it used to be.

The brown is definitely a mistake. I suggest you get input from a graphic artist regarding colors and how they work together - and don't. The general issue for your design is that you are using dark colors in both your texts and graphics against a dark background. That makes it harder to read - regardless of which direction you are reading in A simple fix would be to change the page background color to something like #FFFFEA which is a gentle beige. The dark gray bg for the product images makes them look dull. And the 3-D effect doesn't work. Save yourself all that work and just go with a light background to the product images, without the special effects. The presentation will be stronger. One of the first and most important things that aspiring designers and architects learn is the advice of the great Mies van der Rohe - "Less is more." Best of luck to you.

Why is the logo repeated in the header? Also, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a misplaced header. I'm confused by the two menu tiems for shopping (Shop and Detailed Shopping). Why not put everything into Shop by Category, as categories and sub-categories? Much easier to understand - and would reduce eye-skittter (my invented word for page designs that cause my eyes to jump back and forth until I either understand the intention or get tired and go away). Likewise, why is there a menu item "What's New" when the detailed box for it is only a few pixels away? Similarly, you have Payments in two places on the same page. The thought comes to mind that you don't think your customer is capable of finding those items so you are repeating them for his good. Aside from the waste of space required by the repetition and aside from the confusion it causes, there are times when you have to trust your customer. That's all the negatives. The graphics are excellent. Among the very best I've seen in CC. Regards, JerseyJoe

That is really first class work! Thanks for letting us comment on its development. It looks excellent in 800 by 600. Can't wait for the tutorial on making those picture frames around the boxes and the box headers. I promise I won't copy your design but will make them as different as I can within the concept.

It's been my understanding that CC's UPS only works in the USA and Canada, both of which have basic 5 digit zips. There are no USA 6 digit codes. So what country uses a 6-digit zip? FWIW, most people don't know that there actually is a logic to US 5 digit zip codes. Here's a quote from the Zip Code Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code#Structure_and_allocation) QUOTE ZIP Codes are numbered with the first digit representing a certain group of U.S. states, the second and third digits together representing a region in that group (or perhaps a large city), and the fourth and fifth digits representing more specific areas, such as small towns or regions of that city. The main town in a region (if applicable) often gets the first ZIP Codes for that region; afterwards, the numerical order often follows the alphabetical order. END QUOTE In the US, aside from the configuration of a form field on a computer, that logic would allow you to use a 3 digit zip to get a piece of mail at least into the closest distribution center. I vaguely recall that a 3 digit system was used back in the 40s or 50s and was called simply Zone.