Design snapshot

[RuralWeb]

This is not rocket science - most clients will be using client software so the design options will not be available so it should be very simple to export the complete design. Even those people using the full software will normally have the designer options greyed out if a custom design is being used so it should be pretty easy to group all the design "bits" in one place and export them in one go - so what if they are all done each time as it does not really matter as far as the client is concerned. All that is needed is to transfer the equivalent of the templates from designer to client - it was so easy in V7 I cannot see what the problem is in V8. Even if the export just sent the "bits" as html it would work as I have been emailing layouts etc quite happily.

I thought that this was the whole point of the designer/client system but it does struggle.

[jont]

Found a fantastic solution .... "notepad" .... copy the code from a layout, paste into Notepad .. save ... email over to the client with detailed instructions on which layout selector to paste into.

100% success rate so far.

[leehack]

Found a fantastic solution

Solution? It's 2007 and you are using a £1500 piece of software, that's a workaround at best, although i have used that method in the past to do a tweak across the phone. Quite funny talking somebody through doing something where they have no idea what is going on.

Have you got 108 lines of code?.....hang on i'll count them....no, no, no read the numbers on the left...oh yes, that's easier.

Right, edit-select all on the file i just sent.... blah blah

[jont]

External CSS in PreviewHTML

Having updated an existing v8.5.0 with various changes (including CSS) this was sent over via a partial design snapshot, imported but the changes did not stick.

Installing the destination ACD into the site (to ensure working on the same files) I have found the design has indeed been applied. Deleting the external CSS file inside PreviewHTML forced a refresh of the stylesheet and the changes show. Making further changes to the stylesheet required subsequent deletions of the external CSS.

This seems to have happened converting the outer layout link from absolute to relative ... necessary as the destination machine does not have the same site name structure.

This is in addition to the "orange" layout lists issue mentioned above.

[jont]

Solution?

Good to see the irony is not lost

[Orchid]

AND can we have a version of snapshot that not only works - but also gives you the option to import products and orders - but NOT design - flat file exports are a clumsy way to do it - snapshots should be how they are done.

Oh and by the way - PLEASE can it actually work.

[leehack]

Quite frightening really this is still not sorted, says a lot IMO. Most designers aleady had designer by the time it was mentioned, so don't waste time changing it, cos all the money is in that will be? Cynical me i guess or am i being obtuse?

[Orchid]

Chris said this is the way to upgrade

1. Get the v6/v7 snapshot
2. Upgrade it into a v8 site A.
3. Upgrade the design.
4. When it's time to deploy I got another snapshot from the customer.
5. I then upgraded it into a different site B.
6. I then just did a hierarchical export from site B
7. I then imported this into site A
8. Then I took v8 to the client with the up-to-snapshot and installed it on the client's PC.
9. I then used 'File | Import Orders' to pull the orders from the current live site.

Ok here are the reasons why this doesn't always work

1. I then just did a hierarchical export from site B
2. I then imported this into site A

When you do this your fragments go squiffy.

And if the client has allowed Actinic to name the pages for him/her then some of the page names change upon reimport, I think this happens when the client has copied a section and then the section number gets appended to the end of the name i.e. www.mysite.com/sectionname_121.html so when the import happens the section id changes and the page becomes www.mysite.com/sectionname_134.html and the page name changes are absolutely terrible for SEO. I haven't quite worked out why some of my client's automatically generated names do the numbering thing while others seem to do www.mysite.com/copy_of_sectionname.html

Both issues have been reported to support. The fragments one has a work around...

http://community.actinic.com/showthr...light=fragment

...but I don't think the page names changes has.

Again I say hierarchical export is a clumsy way of doing this and a partial snapshots that worked would be better.

AND how about this for an idea - instead of emailing we upload from actinic with a little purple arrow next to the blue and green ones and the snapshot sits on the server until the customer chooses to hit a little purple down arrow at his end and then it all magically integrates with his system having first asked if he wants to backup.

[pinbrook]

I think this happens when the client has copied a section and then the section number gets appended to the end of the name i.e. www.mysite.com/sectionname_121.html so when the import happens the section id changes and the page becomes www.mysite.com/sectionname_134.html and the page name changes are absolutely terrible for SEO. I haven't quite worked out why some of my client's automatically generated names do the numbering thing while others seem to do www.mysite.com/copy_of_sectionname.html

This is historical. In the early days of actinic (up to v5 i think). the software assigned section names in the format sectionname_xxx where xxx was a unique digit. later versions added the ability for designate your own section names.

copy of copy of etc happens during copy/paste

[RuralWeb]

AND how about this for an idea - instead of emailing we upload from actinic with a little purple arrow next to the blue and green ones and the snapshot sits on the server until the customer chooses to hit a little purple down arrow at his end and then it all magically integrates with his system having first asked if he wants to backup.

You can do most of this using the aditional files.

[Orchid]

You can do most of this using the aditional files.

useful, how do you implement?

[leehack]

Its already available in the design drop down menu Wayne.

[Orchid]

OK using additional files I can get images and .css files and .js files to upload to the server once the client has installed the snapshot I've provided him.

But there is nothing on the design menu that automatically uploads the newly created design snapshot to the clients server so that they can automatically download and integrate into their installation in order to add content - thinking built in ftp client, like Dreamweaver has. And does exist in Actinic put hasn't been implemented for this purpose, though I can't think of any reason why not.

At the moment I have to upload using a standalone ftp client - the client has to download using a standalone ftp client and then they have to import as a separate step. This could be simplified.

[RuralWeb]

But there is nothing on the design menu that automatically uploads the newly created design snapshot to the clients server so that they can automatically download and integrate into their installation in order to add content

Yes it does - all they need to do is download the snapshot and import it

[Orchid]

then I'm really missing something - how do I upload the snapshot to the client's server - without using an external ftp client?

if I add the snapshot to the additional files and then do an upload won't I overright my client's site with my content?

Also when it's up there they can click on a link I send to download it. (Possibly without an ftp client though when I tried this it threw a server error as the server didn't know what to do with .acd file extension).

But wouldn't they still need to import it from the file menu?

What I'm suggesting is another arrow in a different colour to automate this process. Designer hits purple up arrow to upload - Client hits purple down arrow to download and import.