Viewing the Thank You Page

[spike]

Is there anyway to view the "Thank You" page after changes are made? Right now I'm going through the whole process of buying an item just to see the changes. Thanks in advance
Dave

[Jim]

There is a "Preview" option button on the Custom template screen (Pro version at least). You can use this to view the general layout of the shopping cart pages. It may not display all the possible features and uses some canned data is used so it is just to give you a rough overview of what the template will look like but may suit your needs.

Other than that the only way is to finalize an order. I typically temporarily enable COD so I don't have to enter the credit card info and then reenable it when the test order is completed so others can't used that method if the store is live.

You could also get a demo store at shopsite.com/demo.html and try the template there so is isn't using your live store.

[spike]

Jim, The ShopSite starter does not have a Preview option, but the C.O.D. idea worked. Thank-you for your help.

Spike

[Swine]

Clunky isn't the word for that work around.

Seriously? The only way to preview your Thank You page is to order something from yourself?

[loren_d_c]

Ummm no. If you have Manager or Pro and are using a custom shopping cart template you can preview it (it will run through with a dummy product) from the Merchandising -> Custom Templates -> Shopping Cart template via the Preview function there. If you don't have a custom cart template, you can use the Copy ShopSite Template function to copy the default template you are using so that you can use the Preview function on it.

Starter stores do not have access to the Custom Template functionality, therefore they do not have access to the shopping cart template's Preview function.

Regardless, even if you have Manager or Pro and you do use the Preview function to get the general idea of how your cart pages look, there is really no replacement for going through the real thing once in a while, just as a shopper would, especially if you are making major modifications to the layout of the cart pages.

-Loren

[Swine]

Hmmm... Not able to preview the Thank You page. Went to Merchandising Setup > Custom Templates and Thank You is not one of them.

Also no preview button on the Thank You Screen.

Using ShopSite 10.

[Jim]

The Preview option is available for both Pro and Manager level stores since those are the ones that have the ability to change templates. That particular merchant had a Starter level store which does not have the custom template feature and would be using one of the ShopSite provided templates.

A merchant should place a few test orders anyway to make sure that the payment method they have selected is functioning properly before the store is opened. So placing a test order to see what the Thank You screen is like shouldn't be that big of a deal. Demo stores for viewing the built in tempates are available from http://shopsite.com/demo.html if a merchant doesn't want to place a test order in their own store.

[loren_d_c]

Eric,

See my previous post:

Merchandising -> Custom Templates -> Shopping Cart template via the Preview function there.

The shopping cart template is the template that contains the definition of the Thank You page.

-Loren

[Swine]

I see. I didn't realize the preview page was actually active. Thank you!