How Many V8 Live Sites

[Darren B]

Hi All

Bit of an odd thing but i am still on the balance of switching over as i have not got to grips with V8 yet but getting there.

What i was wondering is how many people have switched over to V8 or have switched there clients over to V8 and what are the sites. I would like to see who has come up with what as there has been some great sites created in V7 and guess some even better ones in V8

Cheers
Darren

[pinbrook]

I'm not upgrading any client sites until after Xmas, as there are still too many bugs to make development time too frustrating ( and expensive). The time I am spending on V8 is for my own learning, everytime I dabble i seem to hit a problem. That and constant "internal error we are closing the application" slows things down to much.

If you've managed to develop the site then it should be stable as a live site, although I would test the order processing side to ensure there's nothing nasty before you go live.

Whilst part of my thinking is my usual, don't plough in until the product is at least 6 months old - I take this approach with all software, not just actinic. In general with Actinic I run 1, 2 or 3 patches behind the latest. However with V8 I don't think I am alone in holding back.

[Darren B]

Hi Jo

I am running it on the kite site in test mode at present, i have tweaked a few templates added my bits to the contact us pages but that is about it.

Although i love all the features, i need a bit more confidence in editing the templates as i have followed the AUG on a few but they do not work so i stuck the html into the page in the designer option and it works. I am not convinced that every change in the library is reflected in the site? It might be the way i do it

I have already downgrade from V8.03 to V8.02 because the snapshot does not work.

Cheers
Darren

[RuralWeb]

I have two sites that have been handed over to clients and are live: www.the-old-smokehouse.co.uk (upgrade) and www.hunterspuddings.co.uk (new site). They both are running OK with no reprted problems at the client end.

I have several others on the go but must say that I think V7 was easier.

[completerookie]

got any more clues/hints as to the snapshot not workig,
I've just upgraded the trial to 8.0.3 from8.02 because the hidden products kept on appearing in the "new products" box.
one step forward, two back.

[Fairyglass]

LiveV8

I've just switched Fairyglass today, seems ok so far... 4 other sites to switch in the near future, will keep you posted. There's loads more features, but the navigation in V8 doesn't seem so intuitive- however this may just be a case of old dog and new tricks
Ben

[pinbrook]

I suspect the live site in v8 will be fine, as all it is is generated html pages.

its the dev phase that I am struggling with - constant internal errors, rubbish preview, and unexpected results - all this adds up to a frustrating experience - time is money so they say - I shall revisit when the whole thing is more stable.

[leehack]

I've spent about 23 hours so far upgrading this and i'd have to agree on holding back. Bill has been great in offering help on a few sticky issues, however the general process just seems far too complicated. I did think the same on V7 before i got my head round it, so that maybe slightly biased.

My worst problem is that i feel that it is entirely upgraded now, but i'm damned if i would commit to that with my client. There are a few nice features on the new version, however integrating these into an existing design seems far too complicated and it would appear that starting from scratch with all of your products into a clean design is the only way forward.

The picture of V7 in my head was layouts nested within layouts nested within layouts, which all went together to create a page. Now on V8 my initial reaction is that it is a load of links (layout references) nested within others to build up a page. The basic principle on how it works seems identical and i guess at this early stage, i am unsure on exactly what i have gained with V8 (apart from sleepless nights and liquid paracetamol running through my veins).

As i become more used to the interface, i may grow to love it, as it stands unless there is something that V8 offers you that V7 cannot, then do not change what isn't broken.

Stability seems an issue with quite a few of us also, i have a few instances of visual studio trying to debug something, which ends up in actinic crashing and also i have had internet checkers open up twice for no apparent reason - although this did make me chuckle and was well worth the crash that followed.

[RuralWeb]

There are a few nice features on the new version, however integrating these into an existing design seems far too complicated

This is my big grip with V8 upgrades - you cannot export the design back into DW to add the new bits or change the design. As you say the only way is to begin again.

[leehack]

Maybe one day, upgrading of this sort will just be a breeze and the testing period, once it is upgraded, will take more time than the error correction. I think this product would have so much more to offer users if the upgrade process was almost error free and new features could be included with the flick of a switch.

I guess they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they had kept it in development for any longer then upgraders wouldn't touch it until after xmas and it was something they obviously wanted to get out there. Crazy thing for me personally was that i had to wait a month to get the upgrade and this has taken it so close to the xmas window, that it is highly unlikely i will gamble anyway.

When the interface changes and you have many errors to correct, it is a double whammy. I have found it hard enough to get my head round the new workings, without having to struggle to solve upgrading errors. This may be a reflection on my ability more than their software though.

After trawling through 700 odd lines of CSS, the standard font size on my site is still something i do not appear to be able to change. Frankly i am baffled, why on earth would the previous font and font size change during an upgrade and then be so difficult to change.

Software, smoftware as my sister would say.

[completerookie]

After trawling through 700 odd lines of CSS, the standard font size on my site is still something i do not appear to be able to change. Frankly i am baffled, why on earth would the previous font and font size change during an upgrade and then be so difficult to change

not sure if this is the place to look, but try the Settings menu, Site Options and then the General-tab, scroll right down to the bottom and there is a section called "appearance"

here you have things like "default Font for the store"
the only reason I know this is the missus has a vision problem and I've increased the font sizes for her.

kev

[Darren B]

I think i have made my decision, stick the whole thing on hold and weight for the next couple of releases

V8.05 would probably be a good place to start.

I have to have a grip about telephone support, Actinic release an upgrade then shut support down for a day for training. I understand training is required but not the best timing. Mind you 4 weeks for a key is pretty poor, considering i have been a subscriber since V5. Not sure that anyone at actinic has worked in the field or has any understanding or project planning / implementation risk assesment. End of Grip

Darren
PS Thanks for all your comments

[mike_howles]

I've spent about 23 hours so far upgrading this .

Thanks for that, I've been looking for an E-Flight P47....

Nice site, works well.

Mike Howles

[oracle]

We have just gone live with a new site in V8:

Cosmetics 4 Less

It's a brand new site so there were no issues with upgrading from V7.

I know a lot of people have had issues with V8 - personally I thought the first 523 glitches were the worst - after that it was all plain sailing!

The client is still adding products but please let me know if anyone finds anything on the site that is not working.

Thanks to everyone who has helped to get this site up and running.

[pinbrook]

I did a search using the drop down boxes, brand = any, product type =fragrance
and not no results,

a visit to left hand nav, fragrances shows there are some on the site.

I always use a search box when visiting sites, I rarely browse using navigation.

That said I liked the design of the left hand nav