jerseyjoe

Another tip - if you wish to change a graphic in ANY web site - you must start by identifying it by its name and location. Doing that is simple. Put your cursor over the graphic, right click, select Properties. The name and location of the file are revealed. If it's a long address, highlight it and copy it into soemthing like Notepad. In the case of CC, certain graphics are inserted in the background so, instead of Properites, and depending on the wording used by your browser (what ? you aren't using Firefox?) you may have to select "View Background Image" or something like that - and then read the address from the URL when a new page opens in your browser. Then, using an editor such as EditPlus, search the files and find what folder it's in - and replace it with own, rennamed to that of CC's default graphic.

Definitely get rid of the counter. It shouts "amatuer business." If you are usintg the counter for your own information, get your site hosted someplace that gives you free graphic stat packages such as Urchin or Awstats. A simple counter is virtually useless but a traffic stats program is an essential tool in managing an online business. If you can't find hsot that provides them, ask me in a PM.

I hope this is not considered cross posting but I've just posted a topic in the Skinning forum, "double rows of categories". I need some paid support for a project. I'll do the skinning. I need someone to do the part described in that post. BTW - the winning of this project will be the direct result of the use of the thumb drive demo, so someone who had useful input in doing that would be very welcome to earn some money in this project. Thanks.

I ahve a project that needs help and I'm willing to pay for that help. I need to build a CC3 shopping cart based on the CC3 Killer Skin but with double rows of Categories to accomodate them all. The client has roughly 20 Categories; some Cats have subCats. A good example of what is wanted can be seen at http://onlinemicro.com/ - but with different products and a totally different skin. And, of course, not in ASP - shudder) I'd want a click on Categories to display the subCats differently from the way that example does. To see what I want, first look at the onlinemicro.som site. A Category such as Notebooks offers 4 subCats, each subCat being the notebooks of a specific Manufacturer. Click on a manufatcture and the products are displayed as they would in CC (asuming the change I'd make of moving all the right column stuff to the left column so the center column is wider.) That structure works fine for a Category that has only a handful of subCategories or products. But if you click on "Software," you'll see that the huge subCategories list is displayed in one big, hard to read text block. So what I want to do for my client is have those top level Categories display as Killer would and in a double row such as that sample web site, but a click on a top level Cat would open the list of its subCats in a box along the right hand side. When clicked on, a subCat would open in the center the way it does now. So, who's able (for pay of course) to do that? I'll take care of the rest of the project. If you are capable of doing this, let's talk in PMs. The client is waiting.

One small suggestion. I run my monitor at 800 by 600 - and I really like how well your layout behaves at that res. But the left side has what seems to be only a 5 pixel buffer and that puts things a bit too close to the edge of the display. There is a white space along the right side and I'm guessing it is about 40+ pixels. So if you were to put a 15 pixel buffer along the entire left side that would improve things.

I like it to the point of wishing I had a copy of the skin. All in all, it's excellent. And, there are many here who have heard me say many things about sites offered for comment, but never that. If and when you want to share the skin, please let me know? I promise I'd change it sufficiently in colors and graphics so that it would not be a copy - and I'd not use it for any similar products. I especially like the menu in the upper right corner. As for the three dead clickables, I agree and suggest that they become your 4 site docs - About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions . Of course, since there are only 6 available slots in the upper right menu, that would mean either giving up one of the other three or not including one of the new four, or having 7 slots. For myself, I'd not add a seventh because that would make the banner too high. So my option, were it mine to do, would be to remove "Home" since it is already logically at the top of the left side "Shop By Category" menu where convention says it should be. And I'd remove eBay from that left side menu because it gets plenty of attention in the upper right corner. That would give you six slots. And a damned fine layout. Congratulations on a site that is all about selling the product and not about flaunting excessive and irrelevant design skills. The great architect Mies Van de Rohe said it best, "Less is more."

That block of centered text in the Welcoming message is difficult to read. Text centering is not diffcult to read as a caption, or a block that spans only 30 or so characters and does not exceed two lines. But centered text paragraphs introduce a hurdle. I chose the word "hurdle" as fact, not metaphor Think about how the eyes of a reader functions. Those short centered cpations can be read as a single glance with little or no eye movement. But blocks of text are read differently. The reader's eye comes to the end of a line. The trained tendency of the eye is to jump to the same starting place at the left, one line down. Centered text makes this impossible. After the second line, the eye of the reader no longer is functioning automatically but must make a deliberate seacrh for the start of the next line. With centered text, this changes with evey line. It sounds minor but it's not. It quickly becomes annoying, the eye becomes tired - and the reader stops reading. Why annoy a potential customer?

I hope that you can make it work. I don't have an immediate need for it, but only last week I demo'd CC3 to a potential client who might want it as a way of dealing with an inventory that has many Categories and sub-Categories within them.

Another issue that contra-indicates popups, aside from the annoynace factor, is that few visitors well see them anyway. A few weeks ago I installed a popup on a client's home page (not a CC), informing visitors that the phone numbers would change on a certain date. Because most of his visitors had a popup blocker installed, or the wiser ones were using Firefox, he soon began to get emails complaining that the phone was not working.

Thank you - that was exactly what I needed.

Let's say a CC store sells items that includes seasonsonal goods such as Easter, Christmas, Secretaries Day, etc. The basic store inventory offerings remain relatively constant but the seasonal goods are important. Let's say there are a half dozen or more seasonal categories and dozens of products withing each. There's a lot of work involved in removing those items off-season and reinstalling them when the season for them comes around again. Is there a way to hide an entire category or specific products with one or two clicks and then restore them to availability with a few clicks? Is there a mod? Wouldn't this be a great feature in the next release of CC? If there is one already - if I've missed it - for God's sake tell me but don't let anyone else know I've overlooked it. Brooky?

I understand your point - and it is not really at odds with mine - as it applies to the kinds of sites you describe. If you are building a web site for your own enjoyment, you are the only one who needs to be satisfied. That doesn't clash with my position that a professional web site designer who is building sites that are intended to sell things, sites that are required to be commercially succcessful, cannot use that same personal-interest standard. He (or she) owes it to the client to provide the most useable site, not the kewelest. As for dinosaurs, I'd rather be doing business with old dinasauers who have the accumulated wealth that comes from a lifetime of earning, and not some kid who can't even afford a copyright license for CC. Reverse and hires is not going to attract the plastic. Hell, I wouldn't mind at all owning Google. I'll not pretend otherwise. If a clean simple interface is what makes it such a success, then that's what I'll design for. Then I could afford to design all the self-indulgent web pages I want.

This is a tutorial on installing a stand alone demo version of a CC store onto a thumb drive (jump drive, flash drive - or even onto a laptop) that is not connected to the internet. You will be able to show the demo to prospective buyers of CC - or any PHP-MySQL driven script application such as most forums, open-realty, guest books, and so on by plugging the thumb drive into any computer. NOTE: update Mar 20, 2006. This tutorial was written for 3.02 but as far as I can see, it will work just as well for current versions. In fact, as I staed in previous para, this tutorail applies to almost any PHP/MySQL application. Also, I have heard that Mambo may not be available for long. There are other products that will install a server on your thumb drive or on any computer that is not connected to the net, making it possible to run demos on them. The product mentioned in a reply further down in this thread (Joomla) is openly acknowleged the direct descendant of Mambo in every way, so if you can't find Mambo Stand Alone Server (MSAS), I suspect JSAS will do the same thing, the same way. I'll start with great thanks to Mobie and Sheriff Bob who taught it to me as a laptop installation - and I've simply adapted it to the thumb drive. 1) Download the MSAS 4.5.2 installer from: http://www.mambosolutions.com/main/content/view/13/93/ 2) If you are like me, your download will default to your desktop. 3) you should have your thumb drive plugged into your computer. I'm using a 1gig Lexar Jump Drive which offers me a public drive and a secure, password-protected drive. The drive names used in this tutorial will depend on what other drives are on your hard drive. In my case, the jump drives are F and G. I'm going to install the demo onto G because I have configured it as the larger of the two drives. Just keep in mind that your own jump drive letters may vary. 4) after the download is complete, and you are still connected to the internet, launch the recently downloaded MSAS installer. Pay attention to where the installer wants to put the MSAS itself. Do not accept the default that will wantto install it into C:\Program Files\MSAS. I changed it to G:\MSAS. 5) After the installation is complete remain connected to the Internet. You will want the browser open when you do the later steps so you may as well leave it open now. 6) use MyComputer's file manager to open the directory of files that are on Drive G. 7) open the MSAS folder and click on the msas452.exe file. (ignore the config file - it will be invoked automatically) 8) a "first time" dialog will open. Take note of what it says and then proceed. I mean write it down. You may be prompted for it in some circumstances. 9) The config file will now kick in and ask you to choose a drive in which the demo will operate. I chose "Z". I call this a virtual drive because it can be seen in the file directory only when MSAS is active. 10) MSAS should now be active and providing a localhost server running in this Drive Z. You can confirm this by looking at the file directory. Take note that the last folder in drive Z is "www." This is where you will install the CC program and the store as follows: 11) in www create a folder and name it whatever will be the name of the demo store. In my case it was "Choco" for the chocolate shop that I want to show off. 11) move all the files from "upload" folder of the CC zip into Choco - not the upload folder itself - just the contents. Paste them or drag and drop them. 12) return to the open MSAS window and click on PHP MyAdmin. 13) in PHP MyAdmin., in the blank field beneath "Create new database," I put "chocodb" and clicked "create". 14) at the top of the next screen click on "localhost." That will bring you back to the same screen for "create" but don't be confused. You have created the new dB. But now you must grant access to some one to use this new dB. 15) part way down the list below where you created the new dB, click on "Privileges". 16) when the screen changes, you will note "Add a new User" roughly in the center of the screen. Click on it. 17) a dialog called "Login Information" will open. fill the fields as follows: User name: chocouser (or whatever you want for yourself) Host: click on the down arrow and choose "local" it will become "localhost" Password: pw (after all, the thumb drive I'm using is encrypted so the app-pw can be that simple). Re-type: pw YOU ARE NOT DONE YET WITH THIS SCREEN 18) click on "Check All" 19) Scroll down and click on "go" At this point you are ready to setup the store. You will note that your browser's URL is showing "http://localhost:85/admin/phpMyAdmin/" 20) copy that URL into the clipboard. 21) If you are using Firefox, the next step is easier. Open a new tab. If you are using MS/IE, open a new browser window. Paste the URL into the address field of this new tab or window but do not launch it. 22) edit that URL to http://localhost:85/choco/install/ and launch it. 23) that should get you Step One of the CC installer. Click you way through. Fill in the fields using the data you created - keeping in mind that the server is localhost. And in my case I used choco, chocodb, chocouser and pw in the appropriate fields. I repeated them for the Admin setup. Again, because this is not a live site, security is not an issue. 25) When you get the last screen and are told that the installation is complete DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINKS to the Store and the Admin. I don't know if it's a bug in the installer or peculiar to my own desktop or thumb drive - but that will only screw things up. 26) BEFORE YOU TRY TO OPEN THE STORE - go back to the File Directory for Z. Find the folder "install". Do not remove it. Rename it something like "NOTinstall." You are not on the internet and there is no security risk here. By saving it under another name, you can always rename it back to "install" and reuse it, if you screw up and need to re-install, which I have a habit of doing. When you do a live installation - yes, you should remove the install folder. 27) open a new Firefox tab. You now may open the store. The store's URL is "http:/localhost:85/choco/" and the ACP's address is "http:/localhost:85/choco/admin/". Remember when you want to close down and then reopen the demo, you must first open the jump drive, launch MSAS452.exe, open a browser and use one of those two URLs. To make the population of new products simpler, I created a folder inside choco called "image source" and filled with the images I needed. I learned the hard way that you cannot simply paste or drag images into the CC image upload folder. That breaks it. But by having images handy in the new folder I can demo to a client how easy it is to add images. There is a nice advantage to having the CC files and the store on a thumb drive when populating the store. As long as it is plugged into a computer equipped with something like Photoshop and my favorite PHP and CSS editor, I can edit everything directly without having to open and close folders, copy files back and forth, etc. and then FTP to a server. I can open a file, edit it, save it to itself and it's active immediately in the demo. This same steps will install thumb drive or laptop demos, not connected to the internet, for multiple CC stores (just use different store and dB and user names) or you can install forums, guestbooks, blogs, etc - virtually anything that uses PHP-MySQL. Good luck to all, Joe Harkins, owner of www.buildinghosting.com Cube Carts and Invision Boards installed, skinned, hosted etc. at reasonable prices

I'll post it as a separate topic in General Support

I can't provide a URL because I fixed it. And even had I not, I could not provide a URL because the installation is a "local host" demo running CC 3.02 on one of those thumb drives that I can plug into the USB port of any computer and show what CC is like and how the Admin CP works. Thanks to good advice received here from a few very clever people, I used Mambo SAS that turned the thumb drive into a server. Wish I had known all that before I spent too many bucks on a laptop to do the same thing. I now am creating a half dozen demo stores (video games, choclates, ribbons, etc.) to show off some skinning variations. FWIW I found the generating lines in a file that, as I recall, is named something like "home.inc.php" in the skin style folder. Whatever the file is called, I am certain it was on line 6 and displayed as brown text in the color coded file editor I use (http://www.editplus.com/). At first I removed the text. That broke the board. So I simply changed the wording to something conistent with the site content.

Twisted said: QUOTE how many modern sites are designed it that resolution? 1 in a hundred? 1 in 200? 1 in 500? 1 in a thousand? END QUOTE Is that the right question? To me it sounds like the logic of "if Johnny jumped off the bridge, do you have to?" And what is a "modern" site? If it's a hires site in reverse then that's nothing more than a self-referential definition. Is the purpose of a shopping cart to be "modern" or usable? Is a shopping cart nothing more than an exercise in self-expression - or is it a commercial tool whose primary justification is the eyeballs it retains and the sales it generates? I sugest a question that will yield more useful infpomation is, "How are the most popular web sites designed in terms of resolution and the use of reverse?" Let's consider the web sites of Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, MSN and so on through the top 100 in terms of what people are using repeatedly. Is there a lesson there? Are ANY of them in reverse and hires that forces a lkeft right scroll on the 800 by 600 user? Isn't it reasonable to ask what they think they know? Is hires and reverse an attempt to be different - an attempt made at the expense of useability?

I own a copyright notice removal license for a CC, bought very early on in the process of learning the product. Therefore, until I did a demo installation of a fresh copy of CC onto jump drive and onto a non-wireless laptop I did not see that there is a "nagware" notice of copyright iat the foot of the text in every one of the Site Docs (home page, about us, etc.). It says: "Please remember that there is a license fee to pay to remove or edit our copyright notices." This is not appropriate when I'm trying to demo the system to a client. Instead of the conversation being focused on the features of CC, we immediately get forced into "Are my customers going to see that if I don't buy a license? I thought this was open source softwatre? How can we get rid of it? Why is it there?" I could understand were it to be visible in the Admin screens - but I respectfully say it has no place in the published pages. It is, in effect, notice of a notice. If that logic is valid, we should consider ourselves fortunate that it is not the banner on every page - but it still is redunant (and repetitious) (and annoying). Which file generates it?

There are two issues I see, one of which is rarely discussed without generating more heat than light. First the less controversial issue - "reverse" is a term from the days of print advertising. It refers to light text against a dark background. Every research study I've ever seen of print legibility says, unequivocally, that reverse is a bad idea if you want your text to be read. All the experts strongly suggest that reverse be used only for headlines and similar limited situations. I've been involved in building web iste since January 1994 and have not seen anything different as regards the monitor. If anything, the legibility is even worse on screen than it is in print. Yet, the use of reverse persists, especially among young web page designers. There's something about reverse that appeals to the drama of the young soul. Everytime I seea web page design in reverse, I wonder if the designer is aware of the issue of legibility. Since you've invited discussion, this is a good chance to ask. Twisted, what are your thoughts on this issue? Do you accept the research on this issue? Or is there other research I haven't seen? Second issue is the one that seems to generate more heat than light - that is, designing for the lowest common resolution. It is possible to design web pages that looks good in both high and low res. Again, many young designers take an openly arrogant attitude that high-res is the only one they will design for and I've seen too many remarks that reveal contempt for users who prefer lower res. Since your new site involves both of these issues, I'd be curious to hear - and maybe all of us would benefit from - discussion of wether your choices were carefully considered in terms of broader useability for this specific site or are those your default design standards - and what influences your position? I'd be curious to hear what other think as well.

I've replaced the default topHeader.jpg in Legend with one of my own. But that introduces another issue where I am lost and need help. First, my purpose in modifying the default header dimensions - The Legend header default is 116 px high. I think it is a huge waste of the most valuable real estate on the page. Since the logo appears on every page, there is no need, in my mind, to have it so high. After all, the user knows the name of the web site - and the theory behind a logo header is not to bang the user in the eyballs on every page, but to let modest repetition establish the connection in a more subtle way. So I my new header is 60 pixels high. Works fine. Yes, I had to edit the layout.css to reduce the space to 60 px to avoid the graphic repeating itself vertically. But as a result, now the search element and the registration / login element to the right have disappeared. They are below the header. Can someone tell me where and what to edit so I can change that area so as to 1) move the location up so it is about 20px down from the top of the upper border of the background jpg, 2) make default dimension of that search / login area less than 60px high. That also would include putting the Regsiter / Login / Logout links on the same line, not split as they now are. 3) change the font colors of those items 4) change the color of the search field. Much TIA . . .

Certain details in the answer depend on which skin you choose. The logo is a "background image" called "topHeader" but the three optional skins each use an image of a slightly different type, name and dimensions. Killer - topHeader.gif 165 pixels wide by (I forget how many high, but about 120) Classic - topHeader.jpg 226 x 381 pixels (it runs down the page behind the layout) Legend - 756 by 96 pixels (important that you use a gradient background so the serach and log-in remain visible. To replace the default with your own, you will need to create a file (best done in PhotoShop) of the same name and dimensions. Be sure to run your graphic through "Save for the web" to optimize download time. If you don't know how to do that, email me with a copy of your logo as an attachment, tell me which of the above versions you want and I'll send it back to you. Upload the new file, named the same as the version needed for the chosen skin to the sub-folder "styleimages" in the appropriate skin folder and replace the default file with the new one. Refresh your browser and that should do it. Now, the above raises a question for me - and I'm going to post it as a separate topic called "skinning Legend search and login" for someone else with more knowledge than I have.

I have not yet had the time to keep the promise of writing an even simpler guide, complete with screenshots. But I expect to do so in the next few days. Foor what it's worth, one of the reasons I'm so busy is I rushed out and showed CC3 to a client who has a static store. He loves it and we'll meet next week after I install a few of the graphics from his static site so he can see how they will look in CC# - and he called his brother-in-law who saw a demo today - and wants me too meet with his partner. They love CC#3. I don't withdraw my crtitique in another thread that the program needs a broader corporate base and adequate docs - but it still is the best damned OSS store available.

Well, the pair of you Mobie and Sheriff Bob, are not only patient, but competent - and from impatient and incompetent me, that is the highest praise. The final problem was caught by Sheriff Bob. I had opened the installation process by going directly to the install folder and clicking on "install.php". That launched a weird and corrupted version of the installation script with broken code all over the GUI - the final result being that the install script did not work. But, I took the clue from Sheriff Bob's comment and, in the browser URL field, I used "http://localhost/cubecart/install/". The install script opened up very nicely, I was able to do the installation successfully - and the F%^&*ing CC WORKS!!! There were two final interesting issues that I'll share. 1) at the next to last step, the system did insist that I have a pw for the database. So I went back and gave it one. That issue went away. On to the final step . . . 2) when the installation script was successfully completed, I tried to follow the suggestion to open the either the store or the admin by clicking on them. Both clicks wanted to open the dialup modem and connect to the Internet. So I simply went up to the URL field and entered "http://localhost/cubecart/". The sample store opened up beautifully. I also was able to invoke "http://localhost/cubecart/admin". All done . . . It's 5am here in NYC and I had gotten up to do the necessary. So, in a happy frame of mind, I'm going back to bed. Sometime later today, I'm going to repay the kindness of strangers by creating a file I will call "Installing a demo store on a non-Internet-connected laptop for dummies." (or something like that) and invite Brooky to pin it somewhere here in the forums for use by other impatient and incompetent guys like me. BIG THANKS to Mobie and Sheriff Bob !! :D

Tell me what "red" means to you, either using a hex code or give me a URL where the red you want is used. Do you want the bars to be all red and two dimensional or do you want a color blip on each end and some 3-d shading. If you want a color blip, what color? Maybe a nice yellow? Have you a URL where there is something similar? (I will not copy but will create my own version of similar.) I may have time this weekend to make it up for you.

QUOTE http://shop.teahousecandles.com/ END QUOTE nice degin. excellent restraint.

I think I'm almost there. Thanks to both of the responses. Here's where I'm at. Alsmost there but stuck. When I open either of the two server programs the firewall tells me thaat Apache and MySQYL, each in turn, is trying to connect to "localhost:85" and asking if I approve or deny. I have tried it both ways and it doesn't seem to mattter. The steps below are with those attempts denied. I created the DB. It has no tables. May I assume that the CC install will create whatever tables are needed? If not, what tables should I create? (never have before and don't want to learn that right now. But if I must . . . ) After creating the db, I opened the copy of CC that is in the www folder and clicked on "install.php" That opened the CC installation interface that I recognize from the installation of the real store on the server. However, for what it's worth, VERY STRANGE, the installation screen is cluttered with code alll over the place. Here what I provided. The details I think are important to know because this is the step at which I'm stuck - and I suspect I'm not telling the installation process what it wants to hear. DB Host Local - localhost Database Name - testinstall User - root (the user name I chose in the db creation) pw - (I chose the option of now pw so this is blank) Admin Config: user - root pw - xxxxxx (I assume it demands one here so I one created one) Advanced Config I changed nothing but what is there is foreign to me. For example, the first Advanced Config field is: Store URL - http://<? php echo $_SERVER[sEVER_NAME'].str_replace( The other advanced fields contain similar but not exactly the same code. I left them like that. I see the three messages at=tha confirm alll the steps are correct and I'm Congratulated that the intallation is complete. Which is where things go wrond. It is suggested that I go to either the store or store admin. There are links to each. But the links do nothing when clicked on. At the bottom of the screen is a blue button saying continue to step . . . followed by exposed code. Clicking on that button takes me back to the same screen but with the fields blank. It appears to me that the installation does not like whatever I'm giving it. BTW, when I click on that continue button, the computer tries to connect with the Internet but I have the modem turned off because I don't see why, if this is a local server, it needs to talk with anyone else. Suggestions, please?