My one concern with these extra script calls is whether there will be much of a performance hit on the checkout.
With each entry field making a call to the script file, is this likley to slow down checkout by a noticeable amount?
Sorry to be a 'Joes Comforter' after Graham has provided all this neat code.
I suppose the ideal would be a way of automatically formatting the fields AFTER the checkout process has finished, and the customer had completed the order, so the customer wasn't delayed at all.
Harking back to my days writing in Dbase, there was a simple line of code like
SET CAPITALS ON or SET UPPERCASE ON
(excuse any error, it was some 10 years ago)
and worked like SET CAPLOCK ON, which mean't that everything typed was in capitals, until a SET CAPITALS OFF was encountered.
Now this was with the program running on the users machine, but is something like this possible with a user interacting with a server?
These javascripts are running on the PC and the load / delay should really be nothing. You can embed the code on the page if you prefer rather than the javascript file, but there's a good chance the file is already loaded from previous pages so again there should be no performance hit there.
I suppose the ideal would be a way of automatically formatting the fields AFTER the checkout process has finished, and the customer had completed the order, so the customer wasn't delayed at all.
You're right, and Actinic should really do this itself.
Yup. I've been doing this on my checkout pages for a while and it's really quite annoying when I get orders with no formatting as the owner has turned off javascript.
There seem to be some features which crop up time and time again.
This formatting issue is one.
Another great idea, which was brought up a few weeks ago, was a 'security clean up button' - to 'make safe' credit card information held by those who take their own payments offline. Once the payment has been processed, one click, and the card details are blanked or replaced by 1234 *** **** 5678.
Ideally, user configurable as to what replaces which field, and whether its order by order, or a one button blitz on all orders with payment taken.
I'm going to bring up a suggestion I have made before (a couple of years ago I think), that the wish list be made a more accessible item, so that the programmers can get a better idea of what concerns us (the users) the most.
Add a link (along the same lines as 'Try the Actinic Knowledge Base' at the top right of this page), from this forum, to a wish list, that permanately displays users wish list items, and allows others to vote on them in order of preference - 5 votes to the most urgently wanted down to 1.
I know we have a wish list system at the moment, but I think this sort of system would help emphasise, what is most important to us.
Bill
Without wanting to overly complicate it for the nice peeps who provide our software, forum etc, maybe there can be a way of logging our votes against our forum name (so that you can only place one set of votes, and not simply vote for everything!), but be able to change your preferences at any time.
I really believe that the current wish list method hardly represents the views of us all, as it tends to be one person raising an issue and asking for something, and a few of us adding our own 'here, here!'.
Having an accessible voting list, may help prioritise certain wishes.
I guess I'm asking for a wish list to be added to the wish list
I guess I'm asking for a wish list to be added to the wish list
Here, Here
Actinic obviously do take on board suggestions and issues and incorporate them into either patches or future releases - either via direct requests or via covert watching of the forum to see what is being said.
I can see an issue in publically revealling what is on the wish list if JoeBloggs E-Cart comes along and registers as just a user and can see what people are after and then beat Actinic to the implementation. Open discussion on wants, needs and strategies does not often take place in the public domain for commercial bodies.
Jont! We all know nobody could beat Actinic (oh a good grovel has got to be worth a renewal discount, surely )
A good point though Jont.
In that case, I shall modify the idea as follows:
A forum link underneath the 'Knowledge Base' one pointing to the wish list area.
Here we are presented with a form to enter our top 5 wishes.
Yes, I know we can do that anyway if we want to, but I just think it would be worth encouraging more users to make their views known, in an easy fashion.
To make it easier to monitor, maybe it could be put to the forum once or twice a year...
"Actinic would like your views...please let us have your top 5 wish list items..."
If this is already done, then I shall climb back in my box
I seem to remember we had a similar discussion before, and if my memory is right, Actinic turned down the suggestion because users would be disappointed when the most popular 'wants' did not make it into the very next version.
Some 'can we do this' items are just a case of a small code alteration, others are weeks and weeks of solid programming. For Actinic (and others), it's nice to reserve the ability to choose what you will work on, and not have implied 'promises' to your user base hanging over your head.
Whilst I know its only to easy to yell "...and the software should include this and that...", I think its also worth remembering that a lot of us are financing this programming through support fees.
The software represents excellent value for money if you use all that it offers, but is an ongoing cost if you maintain support (albeit an optional one, as you can elect not to upgrade).
I don't know how much use people make of the support system, as most times I will look on here rather than calling in a problem (in fact I can't remembering ever calling in for support, other than on initial setup), but I would guess that a large proportion of annual support income is funding programming of the next upgrade.
To this extent at least, we deserve our say (and I'm not by this impying we don't get our say!) - but we deserve to at least influence the direction of upgrades.
Martin (happier than the Mr Grouch he sounds like )
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