advice needed: local access to Actinic vs internet access

[annascot]

Hi all,

I am in the midst of a project to select the most suitable option for our company (independent menswear store) to use for online selling. We have seen 5 different companies and comparing their offers is mind boggling for someone of a non-technical nature (so please excuse me if my terminology is not correct).

I particularly like one offer by a company which bases its solution on Actinic. However, unlike every other solution we have been offered, this system would sit on one of our PCs and as such could only be updated by using this one PC. The company have told us that this is the only way that Actinic can be used.

All other systems I have seen can be updated from anywhere via the internet, which fits in with the way we would like to work much better than the Actinic solution.

Other than this one drawback we do like the Actinic based system that we have seen, so I wanted to ask if anyone can help me by confiming that Actinic can not be updated via the internet.

Also the supplier offering Actinic tells me that this method (ie on a local PC not over the internet) is more search engine friendly and safer as we will be in control of ensuring that the system is adequately backed up. Is this the case??

Many thanks for reading, any help / advice would be very much appreciated.

[leehack]

Sounds like you've had good advice to me, there is a product called "actinet" that can let you acces your site via a browser, but that is an extra from an external company, it's not part of the software. Think of actinic as an application that works like excel or word on your PC, you build pages offline and then send them up to your website. Most others you connect direct to the live database online and as you make a change, it reflects immediately on the live site.

Static pages (how actinic works) have for some time performed better than dynamic pages, but the gap has closed a lot and not so drastic nowadays.

Make sure you look into actinic if strict stock control is an issue for you.

[annascot]

Thank you so much for your advice. We really like Actinic but only being to access it on one PC at one location is not ideal given the way we operate as a business.

Please could you clarify what you meant by looking at Actinic if strict stock control is an issue (which it is) - not sure if you mean Actinic would be a good or a poor option in this case.

Many thanks.

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

Stock Control is one of Actinics poorer areas and does not provide real-time live online stock control.

A search on the forum for 'stock contol' will bring up many related threads.
This one will give you an idea.http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=32740

This is an improvement that is planned for V10.

I believe forum member rmorrow has an add-on for Actinic called 'Actrive Stock' that offers a solution.

[annascot]

Stock Control is one of Actinics poorer areas and does not provide live online stock control.

A search on the forum for 'stock contol' will bring up many related threads.
This one will give you an idea.http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=32740

This is an improvement that is planned for V10.

I believe forum member rmorrow has an add-on for Actinic called 'Actrive Stock' that offers a solution.

I had the impression that when something was purchased on the actinic system it automatically reduced its stock levels accordingly - is this not the case??

[leehack]

It does yes but only after you have downloaded the order and then reuploaded the site to update the stock levels online. If you have 5 in stock and someone buys 5 and then someone does straight after also, they will be allowed to buy it as things are not in real time.

[rmorrow]

It does yes but only after you have downloaded the order and then reuploaded the site to update the stock levels online. If you have 5 in stock and someone buys 5 and then someone does straight after also, they will be allowed to buy it as things are not in real time.

This is the problem that the "ActiveStock" plugin is designed to solve. Feel free to contact me off the forum via e-mail to discuss.

[TMV]

Virtual Desktop

You could always put the Actinic Software on a Virtual Desktop rented from your ISP, it would then be available anywhere over the web using a remote desktop connection.

If you have a large site the performance when uploading will also be greatly improved as you will have removed the uneven ADSL connection from the equation. Setting this up is not a walk in the park but the company providing your solution should be able to advise.

Regards
William