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Just a quick note regarding your "upgrades"


Guest madshears

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Guest madshears

This is the crazy girl friend guys and gals,

OK Thanks to all for all the suggestions we are changing things as quickly as we can . I think it is better to offer customers choices in payment methods do you not???? I just know some people DO pay through Google Check out, we aren't fond of it but it does put us in that google stores category. Same with Paypal. There are those that believe Paypal is the Glory of SSL payments. Rick did also add -or- back to the different payment options.

As for front page, someone pleeaasssee tell my what to put there and how do I keep all those Googly Gospel words there???

We paid a guy, see his name?? Now what, pay more? Seriously we have to make SALES to catch up with lost sales before we can pay for anything.

How much is an hour of a copywriter's time?

OK cutting back products now, I can do that ;) My idea to put 50 on there anyway :yeahhh: We are doing all the mods on other store to see what happens. Some on this one too.

Really appreciate all you taking a looksie but what about the TOS box? and the phone number box? Can't we do something with those two pesky things?

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Totally agree regarding multiple payment options - and I wasn't suggesting otherwise. When I visited the cart area, I wasn't sure how to progress. The only reason I eventually realized that the credit card logos were buttons was due to the pink "button-like" background (in FireFox). This is a clear usability issue.

I like the "-----Or you can also use-----" divider that you have added. However, I still think that you should remove the PayPal button from that page. You can still offer PayPal via the usual checkout process. If you really want the PayPal button there, you should consider repeating the procedure you did for the Google Checkout button by adding another separator and aligning the button to the right of the screen (below the Google Checkout button).

It would not be hard to remove the User Registration/Login feature. That is if you don't want to allow users to register. In fact, you could skip the whole "step1" (https://www.madshears.com/index.php?_g=co&_a=step1) altogether. You could then remove the ability to create a password and hide the "I Do Not Wish To Create An Account" option (with it being enabled automatically).

You should "move" (NOT REMOVE) the SSL and Credit Card icons to the bottom of the screen. Then, remove the whole "MADShears!" section. You should also amend your use of typography - i.e. don't use a range of fonts, italics, bold, the whole rainbow etc. in your writing.

When you take photographs, try to ensure that they are consistent in their background color (white is good).

You should still remove: "That means we get really MAD when people copy our stuff!" - and center the copyright text rather than aligning it to the left.

You also have "Enter Code:" to the right of your checkout page, but the description, "Got a gift certificate or promotional code?", is all the way over to the left.

I would also go ahead and remove the "Information" side-box as there is little use for it.

Your site has very much potential. You just need to utilize CubeCart to its full potential!

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Guest dreamdancer

^But I think it is a good idea for people to have the OPTION of having an account. All of the sites I regularly shop online do have me make an account. I can also save items to a wish list. And I don't have to type all of my shipping and billing info over and over.

Perhaps the size of the wording of the info that states an account doesn't need to be made could be bumped up. (that would be done in the skins and again I would be willing to give a little advice on skinning)

Also a lot of the extra info can be put in the site docs.

And I agree, with some tweaks MadShears could be an awesome site.

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Guest madshears

Hey Homar, crazy GF again, What should I put there in the MADShears section? Any ideas 'cause I am at a loss for words (if you can believe that) ; )

Re: typography, what do you recommend? I only wanted it to be pretty, we girls like pretty

Photographs, unfortunatly not all photos are ours, many are from our wholesalers. To photo shop all word be a tremendous amount of time.

Yeah, Rick is moving credit cards, and stuff down there and fixing the copyright as suggested by you.

I'm not sure what you mean by info box, could you please clarify. Do you mean put all the stuff on one side?

Did forget: about the copyright thing, people are copying my descripts!!!!!!!! And it is really making me MAD! I have found three sites that think it is OK to copy my STUFF!

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What would you put on the front page then?

The best advice for those of us without huge budgets for marketing research is to follow in the footsteps of those who do. Take a look at the homepages of Amazon.com and Overstock.com. Maybe BarnesandNoble.com too. Clean, simple, and professional. More attention is paid to categories than to products. Images are used to catch your eye, with enough text to encourage a mouse click.

I hear what you're saying about attracting Google searchers. Take a look at what BarnesandNoble.com does - they have a list of keywords at the bottom of the page. Personally, I don't like it, but if it works, so be it. My advice is that if you try something like that, link each keyword to a page on your site (with perhaps an anchor to a location on the page) to give folks an easy way to find what they want.

Your home page isn't the only place Google will list. Keywords on all your pages will work, with each page indexed by Google separately. Having a page called a "site map" is supposed to be a good thing. There was a mod for CC3 to automatically create one. Not sure if it's been ported to CC4 yet.

Regarding Homar's comment on typography -- a lot of folks feel that too many fonts are distracting and hard to read. If you use 3 or less typestyles on a page, that's considered better.

I'm not sure why we got off on the subject of site design. Granted, there was room for improvement, but I think you were more concerned about the site functioning correctly, weren't you? Here's the best way to get help with those issues -- create a new thread and post one specific problem you're having. Describe it in detail, with as much information as you can collect. If some people can't see parts of your site, find out what browsers they're using, what parts of the site they can't see, and what they did before they noticed the problem.

The reason for so much information is because there are so many differences in the technology that makes the web happen. Sometimes, it matters what OS your customers are using, as Opera (a web browser) may work differently on a Mac as it does on a Windows system.

You also have to verify exactly what your customers are referring to. I've had a bunch of customers try to tell me that there were no shipping options available during checkout, yet I know for a fact that there were. Those customers just weren't paying attention, yet they blamed my site because they didn't change Express shipping to something cheaper. (I've since solved the problem during my upgrade to CC4 by creating a situation where the cheapest shipping option comes up as default.)

After posting as much information regarding one problem as you can, move on to the next problem and create a new thread for that. Keep each thread focused on one problem, and you'll get a better response. Of course, a clear and simple subject line helps, and if no-one else has had your problem, then they probably won't be able to offer any suggestions.

We want you to succeed. We'd like to think we can help. Just keep in mind that many of us have busy lives and may not be able to give you our full attention at a moment's notice.

Going back to an earlier comment, learning the techie side of CubeCart is rewarding for several reasons. However, if you decide to hand it over to a hired webmaster, just make sure they have plenty of experience with CubeCart specifically.

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Guest madshears

Going back to an earlier comment, learning the techie side of CubeCart is rewarding for several reasons. However, if you decide to hand it over to a hired webmaster, just make sure they have plenty of experience with CubeCart specifically.

Rick would love to learn the techie side and he has been learning alot could you please point him in the right direction? He knows some coding and wants to know CC inside and out now. I on the other hand prefer to do what I do, market, write, and discover great deals for our customers!

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The documentation on the CubeCartForums.org site is excellent. The only problem I have with it is that the documentation area of the site is VERY slow to respond, and many times I cannot access pages.

Alternatively, studying the forums on both sites and poking around the code can be educational in itself. Where dealing with PHP, there is an online manual detailing the use of each command and function (www.php.net) which is also excellent.

For the skin templates, a great resource is www.w3schools.com. One thing to keep in mind with the templates is that some of the comments (such as <!-- BEGIN: xxxxxxxxxx -->) are codes for the template engine to process and parse special sections for special purposes. Those have to be where they are and define special 'regions' on a page. The variable codes (such as {sitedocs}) are placeholders for content.

If Rick REALLY wants to learn CC inside and out, have him read through the PHP code, step by step, starting with the main index.php file. This is what I've done to learn how the different files interact with each other, so that I can find where to make customizations in the code. Of course, to truly understand all this, some knowledge of programming, and an understanding of PHP, certainly helps.

And just to make sure I'm as clear as mud, the PHP code is completely separate from the HTML code. You and Rick do not need to understand the PHP code if the only thing you want to do is change the look of the site. Keep this in mind -- HTML controls the look, PHP controls the function.

Furthermore, a LOT of the look can be changed through the CSS files.

My recommendations would be learn things in this order:

  1. CSS
  2. HTML
  3. PHP

If all you know is CSS, you can make a lot of powerful changes.

If you never learn PHP, you can still do a lot to change your site around.

But the more you know, the more you can do.

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Guest musicnlight

Kind of pissed off at this whole system of "upgrades" and "improvements". I have registered all the necessary info on this site, I still get only few days to make sure I "upgrade" or soething "may no longer work", which is what happens now.

I understand your obligation to move forward with technology, but I can give you one million small incentives as to why "something" should be upgraded at any given point in time...

It is not helpful when your "improvements" cost me down time, loss of money and 5 years of my life, because of headaches associated with these upgrades. I read what the upgrades were, nothing I (and probably most customers here) should care about.

I am not a tech guy here, I don't even know much of your language here, but for the past few times I asked for help here, never got any response, in fact i got "warned" about not "soliciting" for help on this forum. It's obvious I am not (at this time) surrounded by programmers who can easily follow this pace of changes here at cc.

It is a great system which I LOVE to use, customize etc. but I know in the past few months there has been quite a few occasions which made me lose sleep over potential disasters with upgrades, I would not be able to crawl out of for a while, all while leaving my site in embarrassing and otherwise disastrous state, for everyone to see and comment on, costing me new clients, and more money.

Here as actual example, which prompted me to post here today:

I have a customer who I need to create a proforma invoice, and my pricing on the website is wrong. I need to change it, but due to having an inconsistent administrator help, and the fact that now I keep getting "SOFTWARE LICENSE #8 ERROR", I can not change the price, or access anything on back end. It was ALL GOOD prior to this "another upgrade".

If I can not change the price (and don't tell me it shouldn't be wrong in the first place, that's not an issue here), then I can not send an invoice, because my customer will say that my "discount" price is higher from the one on the site itself, and he'll cancel the order all together.

AGAIN, I know I should not have been in this situation in the first place, and that by the time you read this I'll find a solution by paying and outsourcing help somewhere else, but my point is this:

STOP MAKING UNNECESSARY CHANGES TO THIS SYSTEM, IT'S ALL GOOD WHERE IT IS AND PLEASE, STOP ADDING UPGRADES EVERY WEEK. Your "upgrades" are not really that important for all practical purposes, and they create a mess for majority of CC4 users, who are NOT (yes, you read it right-NOT) php savvy, or even know any programming language, or have inconsistent administrator help.

Your customers are small business owners who are trying to do many things on their own, adding more baggage to their to-do list is not what they want or need, I guarantee that!

Not to mention, unlike some of you who enjoy this tech talk, most of us have NO CLUE what the hell you're talking about, and have no way to learn, at least not for now. I'm a musician, so it's like I decided to talk all this advanced theory, harmony and music talk, being puzzled at the fact as to why you don't "get it"???....

Most of your customers here are simple business owners, and we DO NOT LIKE being forced to attend to all these issues with website and problems which happen when you start messing with something which is NOT broken and worked perfectly well. It's even more frustrating knowing that you can't do anything about it at all, kind of like sitting in the back of the plane, while pilot's asleep in the locked cockpit.

Again, I have had a person who I paid well for this, but this changes often, and there are periods when we're out of help. Why make my life miserable during that phase?

I'll pay you for another license, to simply leave the system as is and let us (technically declined) customers stay where we are, so that we can focus on actual work and making bread, instead of playing cat and mouse with technological "advancements" you impose on us.

Please...

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Guest madshears

SEE CC Peeps I am not the only one! Things are a little better but nothing like when we first "opened" You sell CC4 as a user friendly ware and It is IF YOU ARE A CODER TECHIE! This is the Crazy GF again! I knew we were not the only ones! Please NO MORE UPDATES! High Five musicnlight! Here, Here!

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Guest Brivtech

Yes, but don't yell at us, yell at the developers please. People keep forgetting my earlier point that the forums are run by the community and not by the developers, which is evident by use of words like "your software", or "You sell CC4 as...". It's not mine, have not provided software to you, the software is provided by Devellion Ltd, and this forum while proided by them, is not the source for complaints directly at them, being a members-based community forum, dealing specifically with the core system, AND NOT MODIFICATIONS thereto! Please stop addressing your gripes (albeit they may be legitimate) at this forum, and therefore its contributors.

I merged these topics together, because this is a support forum, not a sounding board (hence the change in topic title - I did it the wrong way around). I do appreciate the frustrations people have when things don't work properly, so I let the topic continue, on the basis that some of the issues raised can be addressed. If this starts going around in circles without anything productive coming out of it, or if it goes against the spirit of the forums, I will close the topic, so please keep it nice considering the frustrations and problems concerned here.

Seriously though, don't yell at us, we're volunteers who deserve some occasional praise (Which is a rare event). Yell at the developers if you're not happy. They spend a hell of a lot of time every day creating a system that has to fit everyone's needs (and believe me, no 2 needs are the same), while at the same time ensuring the system is reliable, and secure. They do listen to people, but with so many things to do, it may take time before you see a result for your specific needs.

If you are incapable of administering a technical software system, then get someone to help. It's as simple as that. By the very nature of having to download a system, and install it onto your own web hosting, that in itself is a technical task which is beyond the capabilities of the masses. It's like having a car hire company, from time to time, you need to service your fleet of cars (Like upgrading with software). You can either take the cars to a mechanic who knows what they are doing, or try and service them yourself. Of course, if you only know how to check the oil and tyre pressure, you're not necessarily going to be able to adjust the tracking, replace brake discs, etc. - That fleet of cars if your business, without them, or if they are not working properly, your business won't get far, you need to make the investment if you can't do it yourself, or get yourself trained up on how to do it.

This is something I simply can't get my head around, and I don't know if the reason is simply because people don't realise the difference: If you bought a new car, and had a different engine put in by someone other than the car dealer, and the engine went wrong (like the car manufacturer needed to replace the gearbox, but it didn't fit the replacement third-party engine properly), it wouldn't exactly be fair to be blaming the car manufacturer for something. If you make a modification to CubeCart, and something goes wrong, should you not be taking that issue up with the author of the modification?

CubeCart is not alone when it comes to updates. I've been using phpBB forums for years. With their version 2, there were about 22 updates. On version 3, i think I've had at least 5. My Windows seems to have updates almost every week. If you modify software, and then apply an update, you will lose your modifications, as the files are over-written. In this case, the authors of the modifications should be held to task for not providing a suitable update or instruction, not the developers. Such issues should also be discussed over at cubecartforums.org, because they are third party issues. This forum deals only with the core CubeCart software. Again, with my Windows, on occasion, I have to get third party updates for some of the programs I'm running.

Please also keep posts short and concise, with one problem per post. When I see an essay (especially if there's no line-breaks separating the points), I usually skip over it and concentrate on something clearer. Make our job a little easier, and we can make your experience a lot better.

My reply here is not intended as a critisism, I have in the past been making my own complaints with software developers, rather I'm making an observation of what goes on here.

Crazy GF, Why don't you create your own account. It's sometimes difficult to follow a post that's being created by a dual personality.

It is a great system which I LOVE to use, customize etc. but I know in the past few months there has been quite a few occasions which made me lose sleep over potential disasters with upgrades, I would not be able to crawl out of for a while, all while leaving my site in embarrassing and otherwise disastrous state, for everyone to see and comment on, costing me new clients, and more money.

Because you have customised the system, clearly the updates are breaking your modifications. You should really test the updates before you apply them to customer sites. I cannot stress the importance of testing prior to publishing more (and I know for a fact the developers are more than aware of a lesson learned over this at the initial release of CC4). If you are not technically minded, but are providing a technical system to your customers, then I would consider that you are you are playing with fire.

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Guest hennaboy

Didnt read through the entire 3 pages for this post...so pls excuse me if any this has already been mentioned.

Personally....if you have a working store and an update is released. Then read the info on the update before you download it and immediately upload it.

Uploading any update will if you have modified your store break it. Its an updated version of the core system. It will not include any mods, changes etc that you have done to your store. So if you have modified your store then yes your going to have to put in the leg work again to modify the core files to use the update. Thats your responsibility...you wanted the mods...therefore its up to you to apply them if you want the updated version.

This is where the reading bit really comes in..... read the release text....is it required? does it have a serious flaw or bug fix that applies to you. If yes then you need the update...if no then dont bother! Now seen as CC4 has only had 1 flaw that could have lead to your store being hacked is a sign of some good programming. Also unless there is a critical secuity patch...id always recommend waiting even just for 24hrs to see if there is anything missing or omitted from the release. We are ALL human and as much as we dont like to make mistakes it happens. I generally download a new release and then wait to see if there is any major problems with it before re-applying my mods and uploading

This is the approach I have....and I can code to a certain extent...i can design to a certain extent so I do know what im doing and I know that things can go wrong. If your running a online business which you rely on as an income then you have to take measures before making updates and changes - my own cc4 shop is a big part of my income that is why i take the measures ive mentioned.

Dont simply download an update and install..think before you leap

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