Acatalog - Changing name.

[cbarling]

I think some of the comments here have been a bit harsh.

VAT inclusive pricing has taken over two and a half thousand hours of work according to our timesheet system, and has involved a complete re-write of the entire tax calculation system. We also have the new order form (not in Catalog I know) and also multi-user content management. These are major developments, and requested by members of this community.

When it comes to individual features, one person’s essential feature is another person’s bloatware. With 10,000 customers, if you ask everyone to list what they think the software should do there will be loads of things that we don’t do.

It’s true that there are some major features that Actinic still doesn’t support such as online creation of customer accounts. However, this hasn’t stopped at least one customer going from their front room and zero sales to a warehouse and £20m sales. There are many other multi-million pound turnover Actinic sites.

There are loads of other bits. For instance we've included post code checking, and negotiated a 10% reduction for all Actinic customers. The inter-version upgrader has been improved, as has site deployment - all relatively recent requests from the community. Personally, I think that's worthwhile.

I know that we’ve got a lot more to do, but I do believe that this is a good solid step forward.

Chris

[Darren B]

Chris thank you for venturing here

To Harsh maybe maybe not, but as you are aware and have stated actinic still misses things people desire. A lot of us have taken cheap shots over time, more because it stimulates a response from you guys.

Now the wish list, this to is a complete waste of time, it has not changed for the last umpteen years except it appeared on the forum with its own thread, people had asked to vote on items, now this would in my eyes make it a bit easier for you prioritise, but alas voting is never setup. People have asked to see the list of wishes but alas this is never made avaliable. Your company your choice just raising the points

Now V9, is it really V9 in most peoples eyes probably not, marketing purposes i it most definately is.

Dont get me wrong i like some of the improved features of actinic, will i upgrade, maybe i will to fix bugs in the V8 i am running, will i do it when its released i doubt this very much, why becuase for me it is to much messing around for things that dont help me, however for some this release will have those things they desire and will probably have an upgrade within a week of it being released maybe even less. There will be happy people on the forum

Chris there are many features that could have been added to actinic with very little effot IMHO but i am going to be completely honest, i am not sure actinic is suitable anymore. It has served us well i dont dispute, i have spent more on custom mods than i have on the software, how long am i prepaired to i dont know, at the moment it works, not as i would like?

Darren

[leehack]

I think some of the comments here have been a bit harsh.

Only time will tell on that I guess, but once again you have my respect for coming forward and speaking to the community, i hope that discussions remain civil and that you also comeback and answer any pertinent points. A Q&A with the big wig (i know you don't like being called this, but that's what you are) is great.

VAT inclusive pricing has taken over two and a half thousand hours of work according to our timesheet system, and has involved a complete re-write of the entire tax calculation system. We also have the new order form (not in Catalog I know) and also multi-user content management. These are major developments, and requested by members of this community.

I think this version hinges somewhat on this VAT rewrite. To you guys it has been a massive undertaking with some 2,500 hours involved, but to some/most of us, all it has done is addressed something that should been have been there in the first place. I don't think the correction of a much desired feature after this amount of time is a great selling point personally, it's more of a 'Thank God at last' kind of feeling. I expect 'Thank God' is muttered somewhere in Actinic towers also. I don't see both sides agreeing on this part though, so probably pointless discussing the VAT fix.

When it comes to individual features, one person’s essential feature is another person’s bloatware. With 10,000 customers, if you ask everyone to list what they think the software should do there will be loads of things that we don’t do.

This is very true and why it's nice to get a rounded opinion off many different users. The new themes and the design wizard are absolutely useless to me as a designer, but you will see that i applauded these as good features earlier on. To anyone with cover i think getting V9 as a free upgrade is a good step forward and one they should certainly take. If you have no cover, vat is not a real issue to you and offline ordering is minimal, what are you paying for if you upgrade? - this is the crux point for me, these people are who i want to upgrade or buy cover for the future. I don't see the carrot for these people personally.

It’s true that there are some major features that Actinic still doesn’t support such as online creation of customer accounts. However, this hasn’t stopped at least one customer going from their front room and zero sales to a warehouse and £20m sales. There are many other multi-million pound turnover Actinic sites.

I think stats like these are worthless personally, for every package under the sun there will be these stats, there will be sites that have left Actinic and doubled/tripled their takings and success. It's not a 'we hate Actinic' campaign, the fact that this community is so large is testament to the fact that we still like your software, we just want it better.

There are loads of other bits. For instance we've included post code checking, and negotiated a 10% reduction for all Actinic customers. The inter-version upgrader has been improved, as has site deployment - all relatively recent requests from the community. Personally, I think that's worthwhile.

In 40 actinic builds i have never once been asked or had a 'yes' to a request if they would like a post code checker, but i think it is still a plus point as things should go more and more that way IMO. Site deployment has been fixed Chris, this is the correction vs new feature argument though.

I know that we’ve got a lot more to do, but I do believe that this is a good solid step forward.

It's certainly a step forward, i most definitely agree on that point. For me it lacked one more 'big feature', it may sound frustrating, it may sound petty, but i honestly that is what this is missing. I think this is why people have held back on discussing, it makes you feel that 'Actinic are listening, they are trying to take it forward, but they just missed that little surprise element'. I think you nearly got it right, which is all the more frustrating to be so close. Another 3 months building it and i think it would be a different feeling. I think you needed to do 2 of the 3 biggest issues IMO, but you only addressed one of them. At least we can 100% guarantee a checkout rewrite for v10 huh, you wouldn't dare not to do it would you?

If we summarise, your users into three groups, what did each group get?

Brand New Users

• Site wizard
• Some new wider themes so they don't get nagged at by people like me to drop 800 wide support
• Offline ordering
• Google Analytics
• Post code checking
• Product options creator
• Checkout progress bar

Existing Users

• Site wizard
• Some new wider themes so they don't get nagged at by people like me to drop 800 wide support
• Offline ordering
• Google Analytics
• Correct VAT pricing
• Post code checking
• Product options creator

Web Designers

• Can now do a successful PDS
• Improved design library

That list might just explain why I feel this way i guess, V8 seemed to bring Actinic more into the designers domain IMO, V9 seems to be moving back away. But then again i suppose any pluses for the software are pluses for the designer, even if not indirectly.

The biggest single thing i love about V9 is the Google Analytics integration, i really am sick to death of talking about that via email. My second favourite is the design library changes, i do really like that, in fact i think that is exactly as i have wanted it to be for the last year or so of using it.

[dave_finlayson]

Nice post Lee, very fair and all true, in my opinion v9 is really what v8 should have been.

What Actinic really need to be doing is going down Gabe's route and creating bolt on products that we can buy if we need them, for instance a bolt on online database for managing accounts, with a two way sync between desktop and server. This would be a winning formula for me, as I would really love to keep it as a desktop application but also get the benefits of an online database.

One thing though, Google Analytics integration, am I right in thinking that this only adds in the head code but does not track sales through the checkout (i.e order vlaue, goods ordered), like Eileens excellent guide? (which no matter how advanced I may well be now, I have never got working)

[RuralWeb]

it does track econmerce functions

[leehack]

What Actinic really need to be doing is going down Gabe's route and creating bolt on products that we can buy if we need them, for instance a bolt on online database for managing accounts, with a two way sync between desktop and server. This would be a winning formula for me, as I would really love to keep it as a desktop application but also get the benefits of an online database.

I think this is a good ideal also and maybe where the future lies, it's hard to say though as things move so fast. They need to get the core application up to scratch, vat is now crossed off, the checkout is the next big one IMO. With those 2 issues sorted, i think that gives a firm foundation for the future.

Online database options can solve a host of shortcomings and there has to be some mileage in those areas. My only concern is whether financially these are viable for them to do as they seem to take much longer than one expects. People like Gabe and Andy at codepath seem to turn things around very quickly and both possess an impressive portfolio of addons. Maybe having external companies do these addons is best, i do not know enough to comment.

[completerookie]

don't forget the speed of uploading the website needs a severe overhaul and must be high on any fix list

[Darren B]

I could not agree more, There is a wealth of talent out there yet actinic seem to ignore whats under there nose, Maybe they have there own agenda for these sorts of things. like you i dont know enough.

But gabe has created a mamouth plugin for actinic and regulary adds new modules to it from user request, now like you i dont understand the time scales, perhaps im not seeing the full picture but i dont belive these people offer this sort of thing if they were not passionate about what they do, yes at the end of the day money is always an incentive but they can see openings that need filling.

perhaps they are now so far removed from how a ecommerce business operates, and what they need to keep an edge over there competion, ever little bit helps.

Quick checkout, various PSP's e.t.c i shant harp on well not anymore tonight anyway, maybe more tomorrow

D

[BodyBits]

I agree Leehack,

Look at Jan's molend products ending up in Actinic !

[Paul Bulpit]

don't forget the speed of uploading the website needs a severe overhaul and must be high on any fix list

V9 Web Refresh does have the option of excluding image and download files, as does Purge & Refresh, which must be a step forward. Otherwise, surely, the speed of upload depends on the amount of changes you have made, and your connection - not on the software. Asymetric DSL broadband connections have an upload speed only a fraction of the download speeds that they are sold on, 8meg services don't upstream at anything like - you need ISDN etc. for non-asymetric services.

For instance, my home connection uploading my site is at a severe disadvantage on Saturdays when all the local teenagers are downloading music!

(Nice post, Lee)

[george]

Still ignoring any form of re-ordering product facility and no improvements in stock control at all.

`Automatic` one product per page was sure to be included I thought.

Its been mentioned so many times that at least an idea of what you hope to get for the next release would be a help. It does not have to be cast in stone, just what you hope to aim for.

As for secrecy from competitors I see a need to talk to your very own customers.

[Jan]

From looking back over the years, every time a version of Actinic is released, this same conversation occurs, with slightly different flavours, when a release is packed full of new features, people complain that issues like inclusive tax haven't been resolved, when that sort of issue is resolved, people complain that there aren't enough wizzy new features. It's a no win situation. (and there will always be someone along to complain about the price as well).

I quite like V9, I've been working with it for a while now and it's subtly addictive, a lot of the new features are not that obvious and I think that are being missed (multiple order completion or the configurable order tab for example), the new look and feel does make it much easier to use. I dislike going back to work on my live V8 sites now, they feel quite clunky.

[... Jan appears to be grumpy today :-)]

Regards,

[Darren B]

I think the price is over the top

[Darren B]

[... Jan appears to be grumpy today :-)]

Regards,

Come join the chatroom Jan, anything go's im sure we can put a smile on your face. Just Watch Fergus & Big Bad Bill

[george]

The main thing is for me, as far as I can see, is that its going to be at least what, eighteen months until the next main release?

Thats a long time in this rapidly changing business to be without a facility you are currently desperately in need of.

And thats not just a comment on behalf of my own requirements.