History of Actinic Catalog

[cbarling]

Because it was asked in another thread, here's a very brief history.

Actinic formed 1996 by Chris Barling and Kevin Grumball

July 1997 Actinic Catalog v1 first sale. Actinic Catalog v1 has no HTML, it's 100% a Java Applet. We then made one sale in August, and three in September.

Autumn 1997 Actinic Catalog v2, product pages in HTML, checkout using Java Applet. No SSL, no PSPs

Spring 1999 Actinic Catalog v3, product pages and checkout etc in HTML, four PSPs integrated

Summer 2000 Actinic Catalog v4, proper tax calculations, shipping calculations, stock monitoring, account functionality

I'll leave others to fill in other bits.

Chris

[TraceyHand]

I wonder how many of us were around way back at V3/4?
Actually, come to that, I wonder if there are any V3 sites out there still!!?

[leehack]

Actually, come to that, I wonder if there are any V3 sites out there still!!?

Oh yes, checkout is still in pound, shilling and pence though.

[chris ashdown]

I guess you had a couple of lean years at the start Chris, What was the competition like in those early days and how did you market the software for the first couple of years

[pinbrook]

Spring 1999 Actinic Catalog v3, product pages and checkout etc in HTML, four PSPs integrated

biggest beef in v3 was the lack of email to customer on sale. Oh how times have changed.

My first actinic site was v3.0.9

big change for v5 was brochure pages in business only
v6 saw brochure pages in catalog.

not sure when catalog/business were split

[NormanRouxel]

I wonder how many of us were around way back at V3/4?

I was as a user of V3.

I recall writing code to extend the basic capability from a simple product with no options so that colour / size attributes and choices could be used. I even managed to get these to display in a Push Button Grid about 2 or 3 years before that became mainstream.

[pinbrook]

blimey i remember not having choices and attributes, i was the queen of bebugging drop down lists!

I also remember having to strip all the code out when it became integrated.

and i remember having to add bespoke code to show a large image if the product image was clicked

[TraceyHand]

ahh,.. pre-extended info pages!!!
What version did they come in?

[gabrielcrowe]

My first site was a hand-me-down from a completely useless designer. It was in V5, as i recall, and it was basically a stock template with some shiny colours and a header done in photoshop 5. It evolved into Skate Asylum.

I'm a new fish, really.

You lot are showing your age

[leehack]

The funny thing with actinic is that apart from a few common areas, having been with them from V1-V7, will provide you almost no advantages (experience aside) over someone who joined at the start of V8. I was a V6 virgin but have managed to look down the top of a few V5 sites with a raised brow over the years. I cannot imagine using earlier versions although we have seen a few mentioned on here. I used to think V7 was mint, now it's pukeville for me, funny how things progress right under your nose.

[george]

Mr Barling, can we ask you some questions on the subject?


Whats been the most difficult change? 98/2000/XP or?


Anything you wish you'd added sooner, with hindsight of course?


It it was a model of car which would Actinic be?


How long does it take an idea to go from a thought to finished, working addition?


Oh, and can you send me £50.


Cheers

[chris ashdown]

The car of that era would probably been a Ford Escourt, Not to flashy, Does the Job, Some bells and whistles, Compeditive price

[grantglendinnin]

I suppose back in '96 the general public were just starting to realise that the internet existed, not to mention that you could shop on the internet.

Must of been a nightmare having all these ideas of the future but being held back by the (compared to the US, Japan, etc) poor internet technology implemented.

Without the need to mention names, are any of the original Actinic users still using the software?

Car - Renault?

[Artisan]

My first Actinic site was built in v3.0.1, started in January 1999, although my first enquiry email to Actinic was in July 1998. Lucky the client took so long to make a decision otherwise I would have been using v2

For me, the landmark versions were v6 (brochure pages in Catalog) and v8 ( layouts) although I was cursing Actinic at the time.

For the record, the currency in v3.0.1 was the Groat

Malcolm

[cbarling]

OK, trying to answer some of the questions.

> What was the competition like in those early days and how did you market the software for the first couple of years

The biggest competitors in the early days were Shop@ssistant and Zygon. Never hear of them now. We marketed by phoning up and writing to, then visiting, every possible ISP, web designer and web host that we could find. There were quite a few funny experiences.

> Whats been the most difficult change? 98/2000/XP or?

Windows Vista was the most painful change.

> Anything you wish you'd added sooner, with hindsight of course?

With hindsight, I would have done a rewrite in 2000 when we had lots of money.

> It it was a model of car which would Actinic be?

I would go with the Escort/Focus analogy.

> How long does it take an idea to go from a thought to finished, working addition?

Far too long. There's some stuff that I thought was wrong when I saw the specification in 1999 (but got ignored) that we still haven't fixed. However, that tends to be a minority nowadays. Because we've been around for so long, there tends to already be at least an outline specification for everything that you could imagine. However, the shortest developmnents have been around 6 months from conception to implementation. I thinki the original Froogle feed was done in that sort of timescale.

> I suppose back in '96 the general public were just starting to realise that the internet existed, not to mention that you could shop on the internet.

The best was being told by one VC that the Internet was like CB radio, and wouldn't last. Of course, they didn't invest.

> Must of been a nightmare having all these ideas of the future but being held back by the (compared to the US, Japan, etc) poor internet technology implemented.

I didn't find this so much of a problem. Sometimes I think we under rate ourselves in the UK.

> Without the need to mention names, are any of the original Actinic users still using the software?

I'm afraid that I actually don't know, but there was a very small number if v1 and v2 users - probably just a couple of dozen.

Chris