>It also takes a while to load in all the items, so I started playing with the bulk upload and >got sidetracked. I am using Catalook for a client - I do like the package except for a couple of things - The client purchased the standard package and the source.
The option system is not really effective in the standard package I would rather see this fully implemented in the standard e shop ie product base item with options and linked prices - the standard pack seems to assume that all options of a base item are the
same price. In a lot of products this does not apply. However overall it is a good package. Inputting of initial stock is a bit easier with the bulk input system once you write a UI for it (client has some 25000 items ). Really one needs the source to the
package to customise it somewhat - the source suffers the same problerms as DNN and most if not all DNN Modules lack of source documentation but over all I would recommend Catalook as the best buy out there The response time turnaround to Catalook on any email
request is excellent. John
I am currently working on a new site with a highly stylized skin. I am wanting to use Catalook for the store portion but am spending A LOT of time trying to re-skin it. I've figured out the CSS file but now need to change the tables. (A doc documentating the
CSS would be soooo helpful.) I'm assuming this means going into the ascx files? But I am not a VisualStudio user and I am wary of doing this. If Nina or anyone has any tips they will be appreciated. My main issues are that some modules "expold" out of the
layout going way wide. I also need a clean list return of products both as text only and thumb with text. (See sample here.)I usually have clients with 1,000s of products and I am stingy with my screen
real-estate. My options right now are looking like going with Portal Store for a cleaner layout or a store app separate from the DNN site. And I apologize to Susanna as I have not addressed this directly with her yet. Also... a question about the 2 tabs for
logged-in vs. not and displaying prices - I will need to change prices based on the users group or show them a list specific to them. Will Catalook do this? (The users issue is why I'm trying to use a store app within DNN.) Thanks, Tamara
Can someone give me a round number that I can plan to budget for setting up a portal store, not including the DNN software? Including the payment gateway, SSL, and maybe a shipping estimator? Is it going to exceed $200, $400, $600 to do this? (US dollar) Or
maybe someone can point me to a resource that may list these numbers. I know between the 4+ DNN solutions they all support similar payment gateways, and shipping methods. Also has anyone besides Nina worked with skinning Catalook? I am surprised there have
been no variations posted at the Catalook web site.
With regards to costs, I'll pass on my experiences 1 - Payment Gateway. Probably the single most expensive item. Has run us between US$200-300 for couple of install. All depends on who you want to use and what kind of deals you can find. We used a local firm
that signed us with with Verisign for a lot less than list price. I'd start with your bank for a suggestion. Also check on monthly and transaction fees. They really can add up. Verisign has a slick user interface, but is a pain to setup because of a registered
COM module on server. 2 - SSL Cert - Prices are all over the map, so check with providers and see what you can find. Purchase and installation was about 200 for us. Check on renewal fees for cert also. 3 - Domain Registration - GoDaddy.com $10. 4 - Storefront
- Pick a price. Mostly checkout for functionality so that storefront does what you want. Pick the one that does not follow your business practices and you will hate it. This is probably the most time consuming step. Check out comments in the forum and ask
the authors of the modules questions until you are sure to get what you want. I believe that Catalook has a demo version to try. Plus there is an open source one (sorry don't remember name). 5 - Skinning/Graphics/Look of site. Based on personnel experience,
hire best graphic designer you can find/afford that is local so you can work together on project. Will make all the difference in your site. It really did for us. If you don't know any, check with a local print shop, they have contacts that may help. The amount
of time you will spend on this function will amaze you as you "tweak" things to get site looking just right (and don't forget the text). 6 - Look at MagicGaget on snowcovered. A remarkable piece of software (and cheap) for customizing user experience. 7 -
Once store open, consider purchasing ad on search engines. Increased our traffic from 5 to 70 visitors (not customers) per day. While you may have the next Amazon, it will take search engines a while (1-3 months) to find you and get you indexed. Googles Adsense
is really pretty easy to use. I know this doesn't add up to a good price, but I'd figure that your going to spend 1500- 2000 before you are all done + plus ongoing expense. Figure on graphics/look as being the most expensive item (do not cut corners here).
Tom PS - Find a good hosting company also.
Hi Tamara, I've just started skinning Catalook for 2 sites I'm working on and I'm finding it quite straightforward. I open the .aspx page for a particular module, look at what css class is being applied, then modify that class. I find that the classes are used
quite consistently and predictably. The the layout of basic items, like the cart, product description etc. can also be modified by changing the table layout for that item in the .aspx page. I've also done some work on the product search screen, making the
3 product options lines fit on one line, etc. I've managed quite a clean layout already - just getting rid of some of the borders, background images etc. and moving some items around a little did wonders. I don't think you'd get round the "expolding" part
for the administrative pages - there are just too many columns. You should be able to fix this for the product selection, cart and order pages - except when, for instance, products have long names and the tree navigation bar gets too wide - nothing you can
do there. So you can basically go about creating a normal skin for the site as a whole, but make sure it can stretches horizontally gracefully, then play around with the catalook css files, and a few minor table reorganizations in the various aspx pages -
there's no reason a Catalook store can't look as minimal and elegant as the best, I think.
I missed your question about changing prices based on the usergroup --> you can do this because each product in Catalook has 6 price options, and you can assign a customer to a price group. I'm not sure about showing a list of products specific to a customer.
There is a "subscription role" for a product - not sure if that's maybe it.
tinky_lou, thank you for the tips. I am digging into the ascx files and will have to contact Susanne about some items I want to remove all together. I'll post a link when finsished. Tamara
I have to revisit this topic because I made some statements earlier which, with a little more insight and hindsight, I'd restate more carefully now. I posted earlier after a user interview with a client who had implemented Portalstore and absolutely hated it.
They wanted nothing further to do with it - I walked out of there, continued my research, and hit this post. I decided to run with Catalook, but took over the Portalstore site, because I have to migrate from the one to the other. And looking at it now ...
I started playing around with it a little - it has a lot of really nice features to it. I think the client had a lot of negative connotations because it took them MUCH longer than they had anticipated to get up and running - they had started implementing in
July 2004 and all this was very, very new then. Very new. Their perspective was that "things didn't work, and then they'd just install more modules or patches". Fair enough. The product entry process isn't all done in one place; I don't know how easy that
would be to fix - it's probably the most time-intensive "fix", if one were to make some changes. The reports (invoices, etc) could use some work, since they didn't print nicely and had duplicate, confusing info on them. This (and as a programmer, I see a report
as a "minor" issue) was a big problem for the user. The person doing the implementation for the client wasn't that comfortable with trying to change anything, because he was scared he'd break things. And perhaps Portalstore didn't suit their business model
perfectly. Those have been the main complaints I've found with Portalstore. They're mostly, quite easily fixable. The usability issue isn't unique to Portalstore - I think a lot of DNN modules are partially counter-intuitive because they're built on the "module"
programming concept, it's a common thread along DNN functionality. The apps that don't suffer from this, are the ones that were built before and just converted, like NSurvey. If I were still doing academic research, I see this as a great opportunity for some
good papers ;-) So I'd like to stand up for Portalstore a little - from what I've read, they're very good at responding to requests for help, and perhaps they can take some of these comments into consideration for future releases. I'm implementing with Catalook
and I've been very happy so far. It's probably in a similar boat as Portalstore 6 months ago - it's new, and there are regular updates. On the plus side, I get to have some of my requirements built into it. The DNN3 conversion has probably come at a bad time,
because so much development is stalled, as everyone spends time doing the conversion, and one is left hanging in mid-air between a beta product, and DNN2. I'll keep you updated on how it's going ;-)
TinkyLou - thanks for the update and feedback - I'm always interested in seeing how things progress along the line as I hold pen to paper and sign off on getting my skin store running, and I still believe I will work with Catalook. We've succesffully implemented
the first Australian Payment Gateway which has been a huge step forward and now I'm getting one written for my bank - which probably be either Camtech, SecurePay or Direct 1 and get that implemented as well. You mention a couple of valid points- here's something
you started in July, customer expectations, etc, niggly problems, and you were able to modify / fix / tweak. This is what makes it so important for me, as a non coder, and a hard user, to expect when I install something it works. One day I had 5 builds of
Portal Store, one, which completely killed it, fortunately there wasn't much in it, but importing thousands of products is just a nightmare. I started looking at Portal Store in January 2004 or somewhere close to that date and could never, even with the contacts
I had, get it working like it did on snowcovered. So had all but given up until I heard from Susanne. (already noted further in post) I think Portal store wasn't really a store in the beginning, but started as some sort of cataloguing system and the growth
from snowcovered has seen a product that is sort of their own product but relesed for public sale. Now that Portal Store has been sold (from what i gathered in an email) maybe it may take a different direction. I've just emailed Susanne to ask if her store
now works on 3.08 as it didn't last week, and would expect it will be soon, but think my store will be released using 2.1.2 - I am at least familiar with the quirks of 2.12, and don't want to lose any more time. And yes, it's like a 3 - 4 month cycle - you
work with something, get an idea something newer and better is coming along so you wait and hope that it might just solve or improve a customer situations, but for me, I'm forging ahead with Catalook and 2.1.2 at this stage, will probably launch my site just
with paypal at the moment until gateway is setup (just need to find another spare 1K to throw at this before I get it going and I turned the pockets over two times now, it's not there!) DNN is maturing, we're just victims of being early adopters, but this
year I made the committment that I would only work with DNN and lost a few, but hopefully picking up more next year, with ecommerce I'm actually using and working with. At the same time I have an experienced developer or two, polishing my own product which
I had not initially thought of releasing, and it's about 5 - 6 months off in my books and is handled differently to portal and catalook - very much a catalogue product handling 20,000 products plus and managed probably via DTS. I sometimes wish I could write
just a tiny bit of code, but I swear it's not something you can just pick up - I am in awe of some of these developers. That's what makes a good PA with any module so important - it should require massaging to just get working. Next week, my new website is
being launched, and then it's full steam on the skinning resource site, which will include a store, forum etc, and a handcrafted, polished version of catalook that I am happy with.. If it just stands still long enough!! Thanks again TinkyLou - it's valuable
reading about stores - and we'll look back in 12 months time and wonder how we got by. Cheers Nina Meiers
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