First Shop

[arttel]

Hello: We arrived in New Zealand on Mon. have bought a car and a house, now to start work. I have done the one day designer course weeks ago and forgot most of it, I a have printed out the advanced users guide and now need to read it! So I intend to start on a new and my first on-line shop next week. Has anybody any profound words of wisdom for this venture.

Thanks

[kurious]

fear

To fear technology is to fear oneself.

Ray

[MASTERforge]

Fear Actinic for they love thee not

[cdicken]

We love you guys and gals!

I'd also suggest having a good read of the 'Getting Started Guide' which is in the box and in 'Help | Starter Guide' in the application. It covers very similar material to the training course and has some exercises in it to refresh your memory. It also gives an overview of the design features and tells you how to get the most out of them.

[jont]

If at first you don't succeed pay someone to do it for you!

Best advice (assuming you have the products / business models in place) is to grab a pen and pad of paper and write it all down first - line drawings - flow charts - notes - design sketches - navigation - site structure etc etc.

Don't even turn the PC on until you have done this as coding and designing on the fly is a fools errand

[fleetwood]

Great advice Jont.

I'd add to that...research, research, research....and then do some more research - see how the competition does it - see how the big boys do it (they are big for a reason) - put your shoppers hat on, and take yourself on a tour of as many shops (both online and B&M) as you can (both ones related to your business, and ones that are not), and make note of what you like and what you dislike. Take heed of what you like, and plan how to avoid what you don't like.

As Jont sez, do all this BEFORE you start any computer based design.
The pen and paper have a lot going for them!

Oh, and above all - KEEP IT SIMPLE!

[1stweb]

Support in NZ

Hi,

We are the NZ distributors for the Actinic products and are available to help you with your problems. Please could you send me your contact details and we can discuss how we can help you.

Kindest regards

Mark Chapman
1st Web Design Ltd

[RuralWeb]

Keep it simple - Perhaps start with one of the new V8 templates and concentrate on getting your products online so you can begin selling. Once that is done then you can work on improvments based on experience and feedback.

[MASTERforge]

I have been trying to solve a navigation problem with actinic for some while now. Telephone support is less than helpful and no-one seems to have the answer.

All I want is a consistant navigation for both shop and brochure pages.

Emails to support dissapear down a black hole, telephone support have little idea about most things and no-one one the forum has the answer. I am well and truly stuck. So I thought about emailing CDicken as he is an actinic representative who posts on the forum.

Unsurprisingly you cannot email him.

This has got to be the worst customer experience I have ever had. The people at actinic really cannot give a s*it about customer service because they hold a near monopoly with off the shelf ecommerce packages.

The software has the potential to be excellent. It needs to be modified to be user friendly and have a decent support of reference guides and help. Perhaps if they were bought out by a larger company the bigger company could implement these measures.

If things had gone better I would have been pleased to reccommend actinic to friends and business associates. Instead, they only hear my complaints.