Slightly worried!

[Trev Mac]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and indeed Actinic so I would firstly like to say hello.

I recently purchased Actinic Designer and have spent the last week and a half creating a site. I can make my way round html and css quite well so I have been changing the templates quite extensively to give me the look and functionality that I want. Over the last couple of days I have been visiting this forum to research a couple of issues and have been quite worried about some of the threads regarding people upgrading from V7 to V8 and the problems this has caused to sites that have had the templates extensively changed.

Is this an issue that will be addressed for any future upgrades or will I have to be redisigning each time I upgrade?

[leehack]

What you've got was tested "extensively" by a test team and considered good. V8 was a big change from V7 and i would not expect such poor upgrade process in future releases. Having said that it's a possibility, however, upgrades like this are not the most common (V8 was envisaged 3 years ago apparently), so if it does mess your site up on future releases, it is usually a good kick up the backside to give your website a little refresh and overhaul anyway.

[jont]

v8 finally broke free of the very old legacy code still evident in v7 and went down a much different route.

Upgraded sites tend to look much worse at first glance than they really are. v7 sites with "minor" html modifications tend to upgrade quite nicely.... moded v7 sites tend to have default layouts installed (for a clean slate) hence the mangled appearance. Quite often with a little patience these can be sorted back to as you need them .. or as Lee suggests start a new design to make the most of the new software.

It is like running a phrase through an online translator from French to English .... most of it can be understood and using a bit of common sense & knowledge the rest can be eventually changed into a fluent sentence again.

I would hope the current structure is now here to stay for a little while longer in future releases .. even if database driven.

[Trev Mac]

Thanks for the prompt replies guys.

I take the point regarding a redesign of a site probably being necessary anyway after a few years if it was the only one but the scenario where you have created multiple sites for various clients that have been extensively altered is really what made me shiver.

Would you have to go through and change them all?

Potentially that could be a seriously inconvenient position to be in.

The last thing a designer needs is to upgrade to a so called "improved" version of the software that they use only to find that it creates a lot of extra and unnecessary work.

It would just be nice to know that this issue was being addressed by Actinic to ensure there would be no problems like this with future upgrades.

I apologise if my first post sounds a bit like a rant, it isn't. I am just trying to clarify in my own mind the merits of changing the Actinic templates extensively.

[Bruce]

Trev,

As Jont and Lee have pointed out, v8 is a completely different bit of kit compared to v7.

We are continually looking at ways to improve the upgrade process but there will always be issues with heavily modified sites, as not everything will upgrade quite as it is in v7.

Kind regards,

[jont]

Would you have to go through and change them all?

It depends on what has been changed and how the updater handles it all. Most often a default layout is inserted and you can then using the old v7 code to get you back to where you were. Suck it and see is the only real answer as no 2 sites are going to handle the same way.

The beauty of v8 is the removal of all the nested templates so tracking and implementing the old codes should be much simpler - in effect you are working with the whole page in one location.

The last thing a designer needs is to upgrade to a so called "improved" version of the software that they use only to find that it creates a lot of extra and unnecessary work.

I agree. If the customer does not require the extra functionality of v8 then they may as well stick with v7. If they want the funky stuff such as also boughts and best sellers then they need to be made aware there could be some additional work involved to implement these new features and they may need to pay for such work. I imagine most clients would be more than understanding of this (so long as you don't bill them £50,000).

As a designer I personally carry a large percentage of the burden of upgrades - especially when they are existing clients. As a site owner I appreciate the additional features of v8 and that it will cost (time) to convert my v7's to v8.

[Darren B]

Hi and welcome on board

i would just like to add, one site i completely changed the theme, colours, from my V7 site to the new V8 and apart from putting in the small perl script mods and a couple of page layouts i made it went like a dream. I have to be honest it took me a further 8 weeks to have the confidence it was OK.

Do not be to put off as most of the stuff on here is because people have made some real deep down mods in both the layout, and scripts, the biggest problem with the upgrade is actually the perl scripts as actinic wants to fix the perl scripts that you have changed even when the new version is the same as the old version?

Cheers
Darren

ps keep an eye out for the goat!