Sub domain - will using one affect my search results

[MASTERforge]

Ive been using a subdomain to test and build the shop so my main site is unaffected. The problem is that all the pictures are referenced to the subdomain so when I bring the shop to the main site the src= links wil be broken.

I am considering keeping it there and having the index.html on the main page but shop in the sub domain shop.masterforge.co.uk/acatalog

Will this affect my google rankings / search results? I dont want to jeapodise my site rankings for the sake of convienience.

Any thoughts or opinions welcomed

[leehack]

Ive been using a subdomain to test and build the shop so my main site is unaffected. The problem is that all the pictures are referenced to the subdomain so when I bring the shop to the main site the src= links wil be broken.

I am considering keeping it there and having the index.html on the main page but shop in the sub domain shop.masterforge.co.uk/acatalog

Will this affect my google rankings / search results? I dont want to jeapodise my site rankings for the sake of convienience.

Any thoughts or opinions welcomed

Do i take it you have upgraded from V7 to V8? If so, you can switch V8 into test mode and your new V8 shop goes into acatalog/test/acatalog/ and this leaves your existing shop untouched. Once you are happy with the test site, you switch back to production mode and then refresh website and the move should then be seamless.

If you have results in Google with which you are happy, i would strongly recommend not changing a thing as it will take time for Google to spider the pages on the new locations. This process will take far longer than adjusting anything you may need to change on your new shop.

There is probably some form of redirect to point the old pages at the new ones, but for me personally, i would leave things as they are and spend my time changing the required areas.

[MASTERforge]

Thanks for your help.

The V8 is a new install. I had a shop but there was no add-to-cart functionality. I needed to keep the shop working until I had got V8 how i wanted it. Could I set the test site in my main domain then when its time to go live just upload it?

[leehack]

Yes, put the site into test mode and it will change http://www.mysite.com/acatalog to http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/test/acatalog on its own. You can check this in network settings to see how it changes them.

Once you revert to production mode from test mode, the appended /test/acatalog will be removed automatically.

As long as your test site uploads to somewhere different and does not overwrite or conflict with any of your current settings, i can't see any issues.

Live example:

Main site v7 - http://www.birminghammodelcentre.co....arsTrucks.html

Test site v8 - http://www.birminghammodelcentre.co....arsTrucks.html

[MASTERforge]

How would I view it in test mode? I still want the old site there until im ready. Would test temporarily replace the old site? so to view the test site i would put in www.masterforge.co.uk then when i revert back it will remove it?

I need it on there for quite some time so i can ask the actinic help desk with problems ideally i would want to have the old site running but check the test site at www.masterforge.co.uk/test then just swap to production mode and update at a later date. Without the hassle of lost src= code

[leehack]

How would I view it in test mode? I still want the old site there until im ready. Would test temporarily replace the old site? so to view the test site i would put in www.masterforge.co.uk then when i revert back it will remove it?

To view it in test mode, you would go to http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/test/acatalog/

Once it is live (out of test mode), you would go to http://www.mysite.com/acatalog/

I need it on there for quite some time so i can ask the actinic help desk with problems ideally i would want to have the old site running but check the test site at www.masterforge.co.uk/test then just swap to production mode and update at a later date. Without the hassle of lost src= code

As long as you keep the new V8 site in test mode (it shows in BOLD TEXT at the bottom of the Actinic application) the test site can stay there for as long as you wish it too. It will only be removed once you come out of test mode.

The idea of test mode is just as it sounds. It allows you to test your shop without overwriting or affecting anything else until you are happy.

[MASTERforge]

Thanks for the help.

Ive now got rid of the sub domain and using the test feature of V8.

I am using brochure>fragment to build a biography that has pictures. I am now wondering where to put the source of these pics and others?

Do i put them in the same source as below?

http://www.masterforge.co.uk/acatalo...1135358560.jpg

Then actinic will deal with them when it comes to going live?

or

http://www.masterforge.co.uk/acatalo...1135358560.jpg

Where they should be when they are live. If I put them here would they show up in the testing site?

Very confusing!

[leehack]

In my Site1 folder, i have a folder called productPictures. Any image i want to use within Actinic goes within this folder or a sub folder of this folder. i.e. productPictures/Logos for logos.

Whether i am in test mode or not, Actinic changes the reference automatically and i do not need to do anything, whichever mode i am in.

Now from what i understand if you are linking to images within a fragment or a product description, you need to hard code i.e. write the full URL to this image for it be found. It also needs to exist in the location you specify.

For your situation i would personally create a folder called fragmentImages and upload this to my website via FTP into the root of my domain. I would then have a folder on the root of my domain, where i could access any images for a fragment or within a product description. This link, whether i be in test mode or not, would never change as the folder i have uploaded and the links i have included, would be hard coded in by me and would therefore work fine.

Imagine you have an image called "Actinic.jpg", i would include this image in a folder called "fragmentImages" located in my root. The example folder URL would be "http://www.example.com/fragmentImages/", to access the "Actinic.jpg" image within this folder, i would hard code in "http://www.example.com/fragmentImages/Actinic.jpg" as the location to find it.

If you hard code rather than relatively link to an image and the image is where you say it is, it can never fail to obtain it.

[pinbrook]

if you keep all your images in thesite1 folder it doesn't matter whether you upload to your domain, test domain or sub doamin as all paths are relative.

i do this all the time, sometimes i use sub domains (especially for pre v7 sites where test mode was introduced) and sometimes I use test domains.

The big problem of using inbuilt actinictest/production mode is swapping from one to another. This should actually be raised as a new feature request: the ability NOT to delete the test site when swapping from production to test

Some site owners use test mode whilst production is the live site, but if you swap everytime you want to download orders - and who isn't going to do this? you are then faced wit ha complete upload on going back to test mode. A big pain if you have a large site with loads of images.

[MASTERforge]

Thats an excellent idea.

I was having problems earlier getting images to show in brochure>fragment. I was building a biography but the images would not show. In the end I had to hardcode the exact location e.g.

http://www.masterforge.co.uk/actcatalog/pic1.jpg

I would build the html in dreamweaver, code the exact source of the image, then copy the code and place it in the text field of the fragment wrapped around actinic html tags. This does not show in the preview but will only display when uploaded to the server.

Any other position than this actinic root folder simply does not work. I called support about this and they said its best if you keep all images in the root. This makes everything messy.

It seems that the more I learn about V8 the more I feel that its not user friendly at all. Couple this with the lack of documentation and limited support I would quite happily change my software if there was anything equivalent on the market. There isnt, so I will have to keep bashing away at this to try and get it working.

The help and support from fellow users is the most valuable part of the package and I thank every person who has helped.

Maybe in a few years the software will become more intuitive and accessible.

[leehack]

This was something i learnt today myself as i have never needed to link to images within a product field or a fragment.

If you try to link to these WITHOUT hard coded links, you can get problems. In fact i think there is a post in the forum today discussing this point. Most people seem to think that if the image is in your Site1 folder, then it will all work fine with relative links. People trying this are clearly saying that you have problems doing this, hence my suggestion to hard code a link and upload your own folder.

Just remember that if it is outside of your Site1 folder, it will not be included in a snapshot, although the links to it will be.