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jerseyjoe

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Posts posted by jerseyjoe

  1. Illegal Copyright Removal

    what would cubecart do about Illegal Copyright Removal.

    My point in asking was that I am being invited to host and work on a CC store that was built by someone for whom I had no info about integrity. Thanks to a PM from one of the moderators to whom I provided the site's URL, I was able to confirm it is a licensed store. Had it not been, I would have required the owner to pay for a registration - or, that failing, I would have declined the job.

    That's not altruism talking. Were I to help a site that is stealing from CC, I would be biting the CC hand that feeds me.

    But what would CC do if it was found to be not legit? Probably break the owner's legs and make weird faces at his cat.

    Oh, and file a copyright violation action, too.

  2. !WORST DAYS WORK I EVER SPENT GETTING INVOLVED WITH CUBECART. IY A GOOD JOB ITS FREE ! :angry:
    In case someone is wondering why mellow, easy-goin' ole' Joe needed therapy at 40 years old, that is exactly the kind of message he would have written 35 years ago. By that time I had been fired from 8 excellent jobs, been divorced twice, wrecked 4 new cars, was addicted to pain killers, hadn't been out of my apartment for 3 months and was thinking of suicide. All due to psychological depression which, simply said, is deeply rooted self-loathing and unresolved anger.

    Taurus, this is no bull. You could end your pain by seeking help. Life's too short to spend it being angry all the time. Of course, all that corrosive, time-and-energy consuming anger does have the "benefit" of making that life shorter.

    Be kinder to yourself, man.

    After you calm down, come back here with some specific issues and we'll all be glad to help you. Like anything worthwhile, there's a learning curve to CubeCart. But if this just-made-it through High School graduate was able to learn a few things about CC long after I started collecting Social Security, so can you.

    Regards and sincere good wishes for you . . .

  3. Hi,

    I see where cubecart 3.0.17 places the newly added products at the bottom of the pages instead of the top where they should be. Anyway to change that? Any help would be most appreciated.

    "Should" is one of the most dangerous words in the entire lexicon. I spent a few years in therapy leaching it out of my system.

    While I cannot speak for any other developer or store owner, I can say that I don't recall ever seeing "Latest Products" above others. It would not surprise me, given CC's great flexibility and ease of design, to discover that someone has done it that way.

    But to paraphrase Mark Twain on the subject of a Talking Dog, "Why bother?" He was referring to the liklihood that the dog has little worth hearing.

    My own point is, I consider the Home Page real estate too valuable for just the latest products. It's where I prefer to put either a welcoming message about the store or it's owner (www.allironworks.com or www.rodriguezpuroscigarscigars.com) or a display of Category photos and links (www.vikolya.com or www.itsgreektomejerseycity.com).

    Having made my unrequested argument, I can tell you that you can manage the position of Latest Products in the file:

    yourdomain.com\skins\yourskin(Legend, Killer, etc.)\styleTemplates\content\index.tpl

    I'm not positive of the next step, but offhand, lacking time to test it, I'd start with copying and moving

    <!-- BEGIN: latest_prods -->

    <div class="boxContent">

    <span class="txtContentTitle">{LANG_LATEST_PRODUCTS}</span>

    <div style="margin-top: 10px;">

    <!-- BEGIN: repeat_prods -->

    <div class="latestProds">

    <a href="index.php?act=viewProd&amp;productId={VAL_PRODUCT_ID}"><img src="{VAL_IMG_SRC}" alt="{VAL_PRODUCT_NAME}" border="0" title="{VAL_PRODUCT_NAME}" /></a>

    <br />

    <a href="index.php?act=viewProd&amp;productId={VAL_PRODUCT_ID}" class="txtDefault">{VAL_PRODUCT_NAME}</a>

    <br />

    {TXT_PRICE} <span class="txtSale">{TXT_SALE_PRICE}</span>

    </div>

    <!-- END: repeat_prods -->

    <br clear="all" />

    </div>

    <br clear="all" />

    </div>

    <!-- END: latest_prods -->

    to the line directly below <!-- BEGIN: index -->

    Then delete the lower material. Save and upload the file, overwriting the original. Since it's a pretty simple edit, you should be able to reverse it if it doesn't work.

    Yes I said "should." I think that shrink should give me a refund.

  4. If you get a Too many connections error when you try to connect to the MySQL server, this means that all available connections are in use by other clients.

    I can think of only 2 plausible reasons.

    1. You need to increase your max_connection for MySQL.

    Linux or Solaris should be able to support 500-1000 simultaneous connections.

    2. Your website was bombarded by search bots/spambots opening up your connections. It does happen periodically and nothing to do with Cubecart.

    I don't have any idea how to stop #2. Try to do a Search.

    I hope this helps.

    First of all, thanks for that info.

    My hosting business hosts a number of CC stores on various servers and to my knowledge none has ever had this issue.

    However, only two days ago, while checking back on the web site of someone who decided to build his own CC store and host it on TuCows ("They are cheaper than you." he said). I had checked only one or two items in his products - and bingo - that "too many connections" error came up over and over again after that.

    So I stopped by his retail location and it truns out he's been plagued by that - and few other problems. We have an appointment now to discuss the various cures, including moving to my server and having me finish the customization.

    I came here looking for anyone else's experience with this error, suspecting that it is an issue of either how the MySQL is configured - or the capacity of the server.

    I'd welcome any more input, especially from someone who has definitely fixed it.

  5. Please note the two attachments. I've not found the code that controls these.

    re HEADER: I'd like to nudge the topHeader over to the left so it aligns with the cat bar. Also, I want to move the entire page up to eliminate the wasted space at the top so there is only 10px above the topHeader.

    re SITEDOCs - I want to move up the sitedocs bar so it is the vertically centered Bg for the sitedocs links text.

    To see the code, the site under construction is http://www.aisvg.com/lists/

    SITE DOCs

    HEADER

  6. I'm curious to know how to make a lean CubeCart installation by removing files that are not essential to all installations.

    For example, I would guess that you could delete all the skin files other than those for the skin being actually being used.

    Could you delete all the language files other English as long as it were the only language option in the language options box?

    Currencies if $ were the only accepted currency?

    Shipping not being used? Gateway modules?

    What else?

  7. Without going into details, but to aim you in the right direction, you could configure a payment gateway that generates a fax form (that you can edit). I don't have time to tell you anything other than look in

    Payment Gateways > Print Order Form > Configure

  8. I'm not able to open the file at the link. Anyway, I prefer not to open files from sources with whom I do not have some history or a relationship.

    May I suggest that you simply add the screenshot to your message? The bulletin board software used by this forum allows that.

  9. I have a client who locked his GF out of the bricks and mortar store but he forgot that she has access to the CC3-based store. I'm not positive that she actually did anything. This may be someone else's doing.

    But, now when anyone tries to log into the admin account, even after a "forgot password" reset, the following error is returned.

    MySQL Error Occured

    1030: Got error 130 from storage engine

    QUERY = INSERT INTO CubeCart_admin_sessions (`username`, `time`, `ipAddress`, `success`) VALUES ('validusername', 1198717410, '76.98.118.121', 1)

    In the above message I have substituted "validusername" for the real one.

    Anyone encounter this problem before and solve it?

    TIA

  10. I have built CC sites where there are zero prices for any products, in effect making the site a catalog, rather than a shopping cart. But I don't recall seeing anything that selectively removes the $0.00 from unpriced items. You might ask about a mod over in www.cubecart forums.org.

    Other issues re your web site . . .

    In looking at your site, I see a few errors that normally would be minor. But, given that more is expected of a printer when it comes to catching typos - and disclaimers aside - you may want to correct these:

    The Category you call "stationary" is an adjective, referring to an object's lack of motion. What you probably want is the noun, "Stationery" that refers to certain paper goods.

    On About Us, you refer to "media's." The word "media" is already the plural of "medium." Even were there a plural construction that adds "s" to media, there would not be an apostrophe because that mark is reserved for indicating Possessive Case (Jack's books; voters' rights; etc.) or to indicate a contraction such as it's (it is), there's (there is), we're (we are), etc.

    There's no syntaxial reason for the comma in " . . . do it, & save you . . . "

    Also, "&" is fine in titles and signs, but disrupts the flow of reading in a body of text; "and" is better.

    If you occasionally are responsible for proof reading and copy editing, there is a truly hilarious, laugh-out-loud book that will prevent you from ever making those errors again. It's called, "Eats, Shoots and Leaves." Most bookstores and virtually every online bookseller carries it.

    On that same page, the first character of each of your paragraphs is indented by a single character. Standard practice is either flush left or indented roughly four characters.

    Again, same page, the text " . . . we'll refer you / to someone who can!" contains a superfluous line break where I inserted /.

    "Greetings, here's a . . . . " calls for a period or exclamation point after the first word; "here's" is the first word of a complete sentence and calls for an initial upper case "H."

    You need a period in the middle of "growing Our . . . "

    You may want to rethink the Yahoo search box. In effect, you are inviting your hard-won visitors to abandon your web site and go somewhere else. Given that they have come to your printer web page, there's a strong likelihood they will use that handy and inviting box to go to some other printer's web site. Considering how valuable visitors are, it's no surprise that you do not see such a thing on many shopping carts.

    Your About Us page has no re-assuring information about who you really are, your experience, history, etc. Before I seriously consider buying something online, I want to know things that reassures me I can trust the seller's experience and integrity - and also includes name and location info that gives me the basis for action if that trust is abused.

    When I'm sending money to anyone before I see the goods, I want to know who they are and what I can tell the cops if my money disappears or, if I need to file a whining Better Business Bureau complaint. I think many potential customers think that way.

    Finally, I am aware that many designers don't agree with my opinion that the CC Legend's banner default height of 116 pix is too high. Considering that it appears on every single page of the online store, it seems a bit heavy-handed.

    I usually try for something no higher than 90px. You might be pleasantly surprised, once you try it, to experience how nicely 60px does the job. It allows for presenting more products while offering an ambiance more conducive to buying.

    BTW - why is there a comma in the banner between Graphic, Media ??? Also, in many of the Categories, where the plural is commonly expected because you have plural for similar products, you have the singular such as Label, Tent Card, Menu. It's most noticable in Flyer / Postcards and Sticker / Decals.

    Hope this helps . . .

  11. I would like to know I can help her change the color of the killer in version 3 that because I do not like blue, then wanted to know if it can be, thanks.

    Quisiera saber su me pueden ayudar a cambiar el color del killer en la versión 3 porque ese azul no me gusta, entonces quería saber si se puede, gracias.

    Sí, puede cambiar casi todo, los colores, el diseño, etc, haga clic aquí:

    http://www.cubecart.com/site/forums/index....showtopic=12497

    Lo siento, pero esas instrucciones no están en español. Tal vez el traductor de Google le ayudará.

    http://translate.google.com/translate_t

    Para mantener la tienda por la Administración Panel de control, hay excelentes vídeos que no necesitan mucho traducción.

    http://www.cubecart.com/site/forums/index....showtopic=12497

    ¡Buena suerte, Lo siento mi español no es mejor.

    Buena suerte!

  12. Hi when i enter a price of a item when it comes to the website it halves itself i changed the currency from Dollar to Pounds if that makes any differance?
    Unfortuneately, due to the fact that the war criminals in our White House are running an illegal trillion-dollar war without taxation to pay for it (something that might awaken our sleeping citizens to what is happening) the value of our currency, vis-a-vis that of most of the world, has substantially shrunk.

    For example, around the time this war started, I could go to Australia and exchange roughly 1 US for 2 AU. Now they are pretty close to par. End of rant.

    Regarding your technical issue, you might look into the CC ACP > Currency and update the values for the whatever currencies you are offering in that box. I suspect you have an error in one or more currencies. Be sure which value you are using.

    There is the "exchange rate" and the "inverse rate."

    Exchange rate tells you how many of currency X you can buy with a dollar.

    Inverse rate tells you how many dollars it takes to buy one common unit of Currency X.

    Because each is the opposite of the other type of transaction, the rates are opposite. Depending on

    (a)how you configure currency rates and

    (B) which currency you use in your prices

    The checkout amounts will be either half or correct.

    A good source for current exchange rates is www.xe.com. XE shows you boith the exchange rate and the inverse rate. In a more stable world, it should not be necessary to update CC's rates data more than once a month or so, or even less frequently.

    I think I saw a mod over in www.cubecartforums.org that does the updtaes automatically.

  13. Those who recall the infamous Green Zap scam may recognize various elements of Paytreck, such as a cloaked domain name registration, lack of phone number and real world address, lots of over-the-topic promotional postings in various viral venues (including one with the unabashed red-flag name "HYIP.COM" and many sites that promote pyramid schemes (polite name = MML or "Money Making Opportunities") and even a phony PayPal web site (paypal.org.pl).

    There is zero verifable information as to their business license, which country's financial regulations apply, etc - It's all just so . . . vapor web.

    Oh, and my Yiddish speaking friends may appreciate the implicit pay DRECK pun. (look it up)

    The biggest claims similar to Green Zap and other scams of that type are that web sites will accept PayTreck as payments instead of cash - and that early participants will reap huge, no-effort profits based on who they entice to join. Those were Green Zap's core claims.

    A Google search on PayTreck finds that the first (and only) result for a site that accepts PayTreck's scrip as if it were real money, is . . . (wait damn it; not everyone is in on it. save the surprise for the innocent and unwary) . . . a site called http://www.moneytreck.com/ whose construction is a virtual clone of PayTreck"s.

    WOW! Who would have guessed? Naah, just a co-incidence . . . right?

    Finally, maybe I'm not the first one who has noticed that, of the first 50 results found by Google, like the posting here and when a "real name" is used at all, is invariably signed by someone with the last name of "Shah." Could be a huge and inconvenient co-incidence, but does deserve note.

    CAVEAT EMPTOR (translation = "click here"

    BTW - anyone who is seriously tempted by either Green Zap or Paytreck and their ilk should contact my ex-brother-in-law who is offering shares in a cold-fusion-engine powered Mercedes sport car. I don't recall which prison he's in right now but send me $50 cash and I'll let you know if I find out anything.

  14. So, if I understand both answers, you seem to agree my customer got value for his money and there was no basis to provide more than what he got for that fee, such as a custom skin or even a tweak of a bespoke one.

    He bought a nice little Honda. It will get him where he is going. He couldn't afford a Lexus.

    Other than the welcome advice in the first two responses regarding the need to fix a few minor issues, I think I did a good job.

    I've built at least a dozen CC sites that are not all that different from this one, each a variation of Legend. All those clients are happy. Most of those paid in the range of $2,000 / 2,500, plus annual hosting fees of $240 (prepaid). All are still in business, the original one is now well into her third year, importing and selling out a 40-foot container of costume jewelry every few months.

    I'm not offended that you are disappointed that I am not doing more imaginative design. I'm giving my customers what they need, with special attention to issues (screen resolution, legibility, effortless navigation, download speed, avoiding kew-ellness, focusing on basic commerce principles) that a few other designers dismiss as unimportant. I wonder how many of their first dozen CC sites are still in business after 12 months?

    Guys, I appreciate your comments. Sincerely. It's OK with me that we do not agree on every issue. I genuinely need and welcome feedback from people like yourselves who have different views. You and I are not in business to please or impress each other. My customers are all that matter to me, bottom line, and I'm sure it's the same with you. So far, I'm doing OK with that attitude.

    As of upcoming Jan 04, 2008, I will have been making a living off this stuff for exactly 14 years. I have clients in 7 countries.

    Thanks again for your feedback. unless someone has something new to say about these issues, I'm moving on.

  15. So, aside from all the ancillary running around, but just as regards the actual project work, how much would either of you charge for

    creating the subject skin,

    making it into a no shopping cart catalogue,

    creating the logo and topHeader,

    preparing the photos,

    creating categories and products,

    populating them with the photos,

    writing the text for the products and the home and site docs,

    ?

  16. I guess we have charge different rates for our work.

    For that $200 I spent a total of two hours in reviewing what the project involved, an hour or so writing it up in a formal proposal and contract, persisted through four broken appointments before I got my downpayment on a fifth try, and two more before I got my materials, hand installed a fresh copy of CC (not the cPanel way), created the original logo based on tweaking one of a number of proposed original designs, created a two-column layout, tweaked the css and tpl files and made three or four design idea submissions until the client was happy, prepared the photos in Photoshop (cropping, resizing, optimizing for the web, uploading, and installing about ten or so images), creating a few sample categories and projects, installed the catalogue mod and fixed its short-comings, wrote and installed the home page and site docs texts, created a Google site doc, spent hours tutoring how to maintain the site in the future and had to chase the principal through three more missed appointments to get my final money And I still am due $67.50 that the final payment left out.

    (The CC registration and copyright removal fee was paid separately at the time I set up the hosting).

    In other words, a fairly typical project.

    So, I sincerely ask, what hourly rate do you charge? What would you charge to do what I just described and how much would be left to do a kew-ell new design - or even for a paid skin?

    Lest I be mis-read, I am not as testy or emotional about this as a quick reading might give the impression. I genuinely don't think that there is any money left for third-party skin or going Frank Gehry.

    Or am missing something? (now, now, don't go there; let's keep it friendly).

    Joe

  17. I'm going to be brutally honest.

    Joe, whilst I appreciate that you are certainly the man who holds a passion for design orientated towards dial-up/slow connection users, I can't help feel the design is a little bland. It's not the colour scheme, there's just something about the way that it's been implemented.

    If this was your own store, then what you have achieved is wonderful. But as you are doing this for someone else, I feel it to be lacking.

    By the way, you need a capital N on "No spam; ..."

    Sorry. :wub:

    The lower case "n" was deliberate. But your comment causes me to notice that the text is cramped to the search box.

    Regarding the general design and it's lack of uniqueness, how much design would you do for $200?

    Thank you for your comments. I don't think your comments are brutal. Honest? Yes, and sincerely appreciated for that.

    As for my own comments in these forums, I would never boast of being brutal. To be brutal is also to be malicious, hurtful, unfair and unkind. Professionally, I'm more of a writer than graphic designer and I chose such words with great care rather than fall back on common speech. Blunt? Yes, but that's not the same thing at all as brutal.

    EDIT BY JOE from TheFreeDictionary.com

    bru·tal (brtl)

    adj.

    1. Extremely ruthless or cruel.

    2. Crude or unfeeling in manner or speech.

    3. Harsh; unrelenting: a brutal winter in the Arctic.

    4. Disagreeably precise or penetrating: spoke with brutal honesty.

  18. Ok Joe, as you are usually brutally honest with some of the others i think it only fair to do the same and i sincerely hope you don't take offence as its sincerely not intended
    No offense taken.

    I did try Featured as centered and it looked even worse. Unless I mis-understood how to edit its code, the text and the image (not the title) are controlled together. When they are centered, they break the rhythm of the other boxes. The effect becomes exaggerated when the image has a vertical aspect ratio, which some of them unavoidably are. So I put them left.

    Your points are on target and sincerely appreciated. Thank you for them.

    I'm making adjustments with your comments in mind.

    Question: about the address embedded in topHeader.jpg.

    Were I to create it as text, it would move around based on a visitor's screen resolution. Right?

    I know I could play with it to answer the question myself but it seems to me to be obvious so I just went with the graphic. And, I'm expecting the client to pay for an SEO mod when we are done.

    Question: re the catnophoto.gif (click on Our Portfolio > For The Home)

    I think I'm wrong on the orange gradient color scheme. I think it should be red gradient based. Comment?

    About the lack of radical design, the client's budget limits how much time can be invested.

    What do you suggest for validating?

  19. For those who have been waiting to hit the clown on the nose and dump him into the tub, I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. Let fly.

    All IronWorks

    Yes, I violate my own long-standing rants aboout reverse text on black. It's not right, but it's what the client wants and paid for. I still know that it's harder to read than the other way around.

    Aside from that, comments of all kinds are welcome but useful suggestions will be especially appreciated. If I couldn't take the heat I would not be here in the bedroom . . . I mean, *kitchen.*

    There are still images and descriptions to be added by the client. I will also be adding a Google map and driving directions link similar to that on the map page at Qcigars

    Click on "For The Home" to see the new catnophoto.gif I created to replace the generic default.

    As I write this I notice that I have failed to change "Product Code" to "Project Code." i think I caught all the others. Please let me know if you see any.

    BTW, this is a "no prices" site. Every project is somehow different. Prices are negotiated and codified in a written contract unique to the project. When I get around to moving the site docs up into the left column, I will add a "Credits" doc to recognize the mod source.

    There are a broad range of potential clients who might prefer a "no prices" site. Anyone who makes custom products, wholesalers who do not want retail buyers, art galleries, etc.

    So,

  20. Has anyone here installed Cube Cart onto a Mr Site website?

    Who, what and where is a Mr. Site? If you tell us where we can see the hosts specs, that might give a clue as to your situation. Not every host is compatible.

    OK, I Googled and found it. They are not a hosting company in the sense that most of us would mean it.

    I'm not too sure what to call it. They offer a tool for building a web site and they host it. But nothing I see says you have control beyond a primitive and proprietary method.

    Go to the home page of CubeCart and read the specs you'll need for a hosting server.

    Good luck

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