Trying new things

[Gill]

There are a few suggestions on this forum that I would like to try but I'm wary of doing a bit and messing up a lot.

Is there a way of copying the existing whole site, making changes to that and then uploading them and testing it and then reverting to back up copy if it all goes pear shaped?

I spose I'm asking how easy it is to revert to a backup copy - fortunately I haven't had to up until now but I know the amount of things that I want to try will inevitably cause headaches (no positive thinking here huh?).

thanks

[NormanRouxel]

The official route is the Snapshot facility in Actinic. See the Help file for info on it.

However, my preferred route to do this would simply be to copy the entire Site1 folder (and it's sub-folders) somewhere else.

Now mod the usual Site1 as much as you like and if things blow up just delete it and replace with the backed-up Site1.

Be aware that if you do this you will lose records of any orders that were downloaded since the backup copy. So make sure you print out all real orders before restoring.

A final thing worth doing (especially if you ever get to the state where you have to re-install Actinic) is to go into Housekeeping / Security and paste all the info there into a text file that you back up. This info is held in the registry and not Site1 anywhere.

Norman

[george]

I think your in the same `state` as many of us on this board Gill. The good thing is there is plenty (learned) friends on this board who are more than willing to give advice and help when needed. Looking at other folks threads and the differences it makes to their live websites also helps.

I personally have a separate instalation of Actinic, totally offline, on another pc, where I do most of my experimenting. It can take a while to learn how to do something and get it to work, but sometimes you don't like the finished article, etc. I'm not a fan of `playing` with my site until I'm happy with what I'm doing.

[Gill]

I totally agree George, the knowledge on this board is phenomenal - but the thing I'm most surprised at is how helpful and patient everyone is.

My own problem is that most of the time I'm just following the written instructions without really understanding what I'm doing - just wanting the end result!

And I keep seeing things on these boards that other people want to do and I think 'hey, i'd like that' and my 'to do list' keeps getting longer and longer.

Setting it up on another machine is a good idea - I assume tho that there are certain things that you can't test until you move it over and update the site?

[george]

I'm maybe not the best person to answer this but most things like moving navigation bars, changing the logo position, re-sizing stuff, etc. One of the most appreciated things I've done was to add `next` & `previous` links to the bottom of my catalogue pages, much simpler than I thought it would be.

Cascading Menu's are also on my investigation/hit list!

I just hope my site gives the software justice!

[NormanRouxel]

Cascading Menu's are also on my investigation/hit list!

See www.rouxel.cwc.net/actinicstuff.html where you can get a cascading menu that integrates right into your site. NorCascade is the most up-to-date one.

Norman

[Gill]

And I'm totally fed up with the way the template on the site is somehow lost for different sections on a spontaneous basis after I've uploaded. I haven't changed any of the settings, maybe added a few new products or updated some bitmaps. Upload it and low and behold one of the sections has lost the template.

so I totally refresh the website and the section finds the template but two other ones have lost it.

so I do all the housekeeping things, change a few products in all the sections, remove all cookie and temporary internet files and bingo, upload it and different sections have lost the template.

Totally frustrated, upload it again and all sections have found their template. This doesn't happen all the time but perhaps once a month.

It's just happened again, but I haven't got to the final stage of sorting it yet. If you choose the precious stone jewellery on the site, you'll see what i mean (providing i haven't uploaded it again in which case it'll probably be a different section that's lost it).

Oh and this time, I saved the site before all of this happened as i wanted to make changes and see how they looked. It wasn't quite right so I restored the previous backup which was working and thats when the problem started this time.

And the section that's being displayed when you choose precious stone jewellery is a very old copy of hte section - it looks nothing like it now and the products are totally different from what's displayed. On the left hand side it says things like 'products built from add ons'. I don't even have that section on the site anymore.

If anyone has any ideas of why this keeps happening, and what I can do to stop it, I'll be eternally grateful.

thanks.

[cdicken]

This problem must be so frustrating as it is so hard to pin down what is happening.

I've had a look at your site, and clicked through all the sections, and they all seem to be using the 'mb4it' template (good idea to put that footer in by the way).

Do you have the problem when you preview, or is it just in the online store? Go to 'Advanced | Generate Web Site' and then take a look at your pages within the 'SiteHTML' folder - these are the pages that Actinic generates before uploading. Although you won't see any images, you will get an idea about what Actinic is generating before it uploads. See if these are as you expect.

[Gill]

Thanks for the reply Chris.

I've managed to fix it this time - again not sure how.

One thing I have just discovered tho. In my site1 folder, the section.html files (for example crystal_jewellery.html) are ALL showing the old version of the file. ie, with old stock, obsolete photographs even tho the date on them is recent. I've made changes to lots of areas in the past few days and do a database and a site back up daily, but the files in this directory are dated 28.1.2004.

does this sound like it could be something that's causing the problem?

[cdicken]

Yes - those files sound like they are left over from a v4 installation. Have you recently upgraded?

You can remove all *.html files from the 'Site1' folder other than:

The Act_*.html template files
BrochureTestPage.html
DDIndex.html

[fleetwood]

Hi George

re: "One of the most appreciated things I've done was to add `next` & `previous` links to the bottom of my catalogue pages, much simpler than I thought it would be"

Took a look at your site and these links look and work great, and are exactly what I have been wanting to do for some time.

At the moment I have achieved this by adding a dummy product to the end of each page, and hand coding in the forward and back links, but it looks like you have a much neater method.

Could I ask how you achieved this, or lead me to where you find the info on how to achieve this.

Thanks

Martin

[Gill]

"left over from a v4 installation. Have you recently upgraded?"

No, have never had v4, only version 6 which is the one i use now.

I thought when you created a new section, that section was stored in the Site1 folder. So I'm worried that if I delete (for example) crystal_jewellery.html, when I open actinic, all my products etc for the crystal jewellery section won't be there.

From what you've said, this isn't the case (but no way am I deleting anything till I here back from you! .

So if the products and section's are stored in the site1 folder, where are they held?

[Gill]

Also, in the site1 folder i have other directories, for example Advert Images, and one that says 'notcatalog'. Should i remove these and all their contents too?

[cdicken]

So if the products and section's are stored in the site1 folder, where are they held?

Products and sections are stored in the database - ActinicCatalog.db. Actinic generates the HTML pages based on the settings in the database, and using the templates in the Site1 folder to lay everything out with.

Also, in the site1 folder i have other directories, for example Advert Images

This may contain product images! Don't delete it unless you know that there are no product/sections within Actinic using the images within it.

, and one that says 'notcatalog'.

This is because you have imported a snapshot from a PC that had the product/section images in folders outside of the Site1 folder. Actinic copies all these images into the snapshot, and stores them within a folder called 'NOT_CATALOG'.

With both these folders, the best thing to do is copy them to a temporary location and see if you get any error messages then when you preview.

[Gill]

Thanks Chris, another clear and complete reply.