Great admin!, shame about the frontend

[antibrand]

Hey there.

This is my first post on the actinic forums, I've been asked by a friend to redevelop his actinic shop, it's currently running one of the many really bad templates, to get to grips with the system I need to ask a few questions first.

Hope thats OK.

Do you need developer edition completely customise the actinic store?

If not what is the best way to get started?

Is it possible to develop on a testing server with the live shop?

If you need the developer edition to make a profession shop site, can someone post links to them, all the ones I've seen (including the case studies on the actinic site) are really poor.

I understand that the backend administration system on actinic is really good and have seen it in action. But what about the frontend?

Also are there any 3rd party systems that can develop actinic sites.

Oh. I'm using dreamweaver MX 2004 for this and I read that there are extensions with developer edition, does anyone know what the functions do?

Ah and finally why is developer edition soooo expensive, you can purchase dreamweaver for so much less money, and it has infinate application usages. How can actinic justify this to the small business end users who want to move away from the dull templates.

Im know that Im completely new to actinic, but these are my first thoughts and would be interested in any ones thoughts.

Cheers.



Carl.

[AdamL]

Do you need developer edition completely customise the actinic store?

No, Develoer simply allows you to create and manage more than 1 site.

The templates are completely customizable in catalog and business editions.

Oh. I'm using dreamweaver MX 2004 for this and I read that there are extensions with developer edition, does anyone know what the functions do?

The only use I found DW extentions good for was when first learning about how all the differant templates fit together to build a page, the extention manager makes it easier to identify which templates are used where.

Beyond this use, I only use DW as a glorified text editor.

Ah and finally why is developer edition soooo expensive,

Its because you can build as many sites as you want from it. It isnt developer in the sense that it aids development, its developer in the sense that the person using it isa developer, and therefore will want to make more than one site. So if you are a developer and make 10 website, the cost of Actinic Developer is effectively Cost/10, which is a lot cheaper than buying 10 copies of catalog.

Hope that answers your questions.

[antibrand]

Ah right, that explains about the price then.

So these dreamweaver extensions... do you only get those with developer?

Whats a good place to start adapting the site?

Does anyone have good examples of actinic sites?



Carl.

[jont]

If not what is the best way to get started?

If don't already have it download the advanced user and design guide from the Actinic site.

Is it possible to develop on a testing server with the live shop?

Yes - Actinic have a 30 day trial server for testing purposes - again see the main site to sign up

Also are there any 3rd party systems that can develop actinic sites.

Several - including sites at www.drillpine.biz and www.mole-end.biz amongst others

If you need the developer edition to make a profession shop site, can someone post links to them, all the ones I've seen (including the case studies on the actinic site) are really poor.

Developer is not needed to make professional sites - it just allows you to make as many sites as you want - it is down to the web master to create the style of site. Take a look at

http://www.steelcube.com/acatalog/AtHome.html
http://e-commerce-aberdeen.com/labou...wlingerie.html

you can purchase dreamweaver for so much less money, and it has infinate application usages

True but it wont let the average user add a few products, prices and pics and have a full e-commerce web site able to take monies. It is like saying why buy Dreamweaver when Photoshop has infinite application uses.... or an MP3 player... they are different beasts albeit in the same field. Actinic is not trying to be a website development tool and DW is not an e-commerce tool but both create website.

Similarly you could argue why spend all the money on DW when Notepad is available for free?

[AdamL]

So these dreamweaver extensions... do you only get those with developer?

No, they are available for any version of actinic.

When using DW for desiging Actinic sites, you will probably only use the extention manager and Design View in DW to identify which template needs editing, and then you will hand code any changes to specific templates.

If you are looking at using DW as a WYSIWIG editor for designing Actinic sites, you will probably be disapointed as it isnt really possible to use DW in Design veiw for building an Actinic page.