Pre-buy questions.

[DFarrell]

Hi All,

Before I go and buy this software, I'm wanting to ask a few questions if that's OK.

Firstly, I have downloaded the trial version and i've been working with it for a few days. Now I understand that this software is installed on my work PC, however, I'm wanting to verify that once I'm happy with what I have done is it a case of exporting the store to allow for me to upload it to my webserver? My webserver is hosted elsewhere.
If so, do I require a ready available SQL databse etc to hold my stock info etc? I have one but I just thought i'd be prepared.

The webserver I have is accessed through FTP, so I just want to verify that I have all the tools ready before I go and buy this software.

I also have SSL from my host, do I require a certificate for this? or is SSL OK on it's own? Sorry for being stupid.

This is the first time doing this sort of thing so any help is appreciated. Thanks all.

[DFarrell]

Also, forgot to ask...

My hosts have wondows based systems. Will that cause any issues?

[jont]

Hi David,

Actinic work by compiling the templates with your inpu data to create static HTML pages it uploads to the web server - so no need for a SQL database - just hit "upload" in Actinic and it will publish the site with its own FTP software to your specified location on the web.

Actinic should work on Windows servers but best to check your host server is compatible with Actinic - check out the server requirements on the main Actinic site - the main issue is generally with a writeable CGI-BIN. Not all servers are happy with Actinic (search this forum for people with server host issues) so you may be worth checking out the several members on here who offer good Actinic hosting (again do a search on Actinic hosting)

The SSL certificate will need specifying in Actinic - if it is from the host is possibly a shared certificate - if so ask them for the path to specify in your network set up. Best to check with the host they are able to host Actinic before taking it much further.

HTH

[DFarrell]

Thanks Jont, I'm off to check the now.

[DFarrell]

Forgot to mention... Do the stock levels adjust automatically? e.g. If I have 40 items and a customer buys 5 of them, will it adjust to 35 and so on?

Probably a n00b question, but i'm just trying to get some answers quickly so I can buy this, thanks.

[NormanRouxel]

Re Stock. No they don't adjust dynamically. Stock levels are only adjusted after you Download orders and process them (e.g. Ship the items), then Upload site changes. You can do this manually as many times per day as seems relevant.

If this is a pain for your site then Jan at www.mole-end.biz has an add-on that will automate this on a regular schedule, leading to near real-time stock levels.

[DFarrell]

Seems like allot of hard work tbh.

[NormanRouxel]

It's good and bad.

Plus's: You don't need any server side database or scripting language for the product pages. Can run on simpler hosting packages. Pages are search engine friendly. Your stock only gets depleted when you decide the order is valid.

Con's: If you mainly sell 1 off items then you may need live stock control. Hard to do things like "People who bought this also liked that...", Top 10 Products, etc.