new to shopsite got a few questions.

[nomma]

Hey, I have a few questions about Shop Site. I love how the uploading of products is done its so easy, but so far I hate the graphic side of it. I sell products online as a part time thing and I am creating my first website (to hopefully make it a full time thing.) I don't like the given templates and I feel constrained. I used xtml transitional 1.0 with css 3 years ago so I have a basic knowledge of coding. I am going to use MS Visual Suite to design my site then upload the skeleton of the site. Can someone explain how to do this and anything special I need to put in the coding. Also, from what I understand, after I create the basic skeleton and upload it Shop Site Manager will function normally and still allow me to have a search function and just upload my pictures and products normally correct? For my new pages all I will need to do is just add a new page normally and then it will use the uploaded basic page template? On my main page I am wanting to use my product company logos instead of just having the name is this possible with Shop Site? I'm sorry I have so many questions, but I need a really professional looking site so i am very particular. Thanks in advance for any help given. I really really appreciate it.

[Jim]

First we need to find out more details.
What version of ShopSite do you have? (It displays in the footer of the main screen in the ShopSite merchant interface when you log in to your store. If you aren't on that screen you can click on the ShopSite in the navigation area at the top of the screen and it will take you there.)

What product level of ShopSite do you have? Pro, Manager or Starter? (also in the footer as above.

There are designer resources on our website at http://www.shopsite.com/designer_tools.html
Links from there take you to online tutoriials, sample code you can copy (cookbook) and other helpful links.
There are also video tutorials at http://shopsite.com/tutorial/merchandising-qne-page.html

If you want to create a template from your current design this page would be helpful to read. http://www.shopsite.com/templates/tutorial/design_introduction.html

The ShopSite template language is very powerful and allows you to do almost anything that you can think up with your pages. It does have a learning curve but it really isn't all that hard to learn. If you can design a page in html then you have a good start at the process. To convert that page to a template you just need to replace sections of the html with the ShopSite template tag that displays the information from the database or text field that is needed. Once you convert the design to a template you no longer have to manually create pages, you just enter the information into ShopSite and ShopSite will create the pages for you.

Feel free to post questions to the forum, there are lots of helpful people here to get you going in the right direction.

[nomma]

I have manager 10.0. could you link me to the designer tools? Appreciate the help Jim

[Jim]

The link is in the previous post.
"There are designer resources on our website at http://www.shopsite.com/designer_tools.html"

The tutorials are not version specific and many things will apply to version 10 but some features mentioned may not be in that version.

Note that ShopSite 10 is a number of years old (4 years at least) so you will be missing many new features with that version. I would ask your host to upgrade you to the latest version so you can use the newer features.


You can see the list of new features since that version at
http://shopsite.com/help/10.2/en-US/new-features.html for version 10.1 and 10.2 new features
http://shopsite.com/help/11.1/en-US/new-features.html for version 11, and 11.1 new features

You may also want to look at the additional features that are available in the Pro version of ShopSite, since you mentioned "I need a really professional looking site so i am very particular". The Pro version contains many features, that will make a site more professional looking and functioning, that are not in Manager version.
See http://www.shopsite.com/scchecklist.html for a comparison of the features in all product levels of ShopSite.

[nomma]

Well to get pro is like another $30 a month on top of the $30 I already pay. I was going to upgrade to pro at a later date but if it is really needed I will. I would also possibly be willing to pay someone to design the site if its not to expensive ( still a new business so income is still a little low)

[Jim]

It just depends on what features you are needing in your store, manager does work well for some merchants.
If you haven't taken a look at the new templates in ShopSite 11 you should get a demo from http://www.shopsite.com/demo.html and see all the new designs available. One of them might work for you and save the expense and time of trying to implement your own look.

[nomma]

I dont think I can use shopsite 11 with the host im using. Fatcow.com is my host and they have shopsite in my website designer area. I could honestly deal with the product list pages just the main page is awful.

[nomma]

Can I use a Css with shopsite?

[Jim]

It depends on which product level you have, Pro, Manager or Starter? Both Pro and Manager can add / edit custom templates, so you can add css files or add css to existing files. Starter level does not have the access to the templates so all you could do is add the CSS to a text field or the global header.