Test area

[RioJohn]

Hi,

I'm new to ShopSite and this forum. I have a client (i'm a web designer) that uses ShopSite and wants me to "pump-up" the look and feel of the website, using ShopSite tools. I've looked at the various tools and help, plus this forum to see what I can do...and cannot. (They are using ShopSite® Manager 11 sp1 r2, ). And it's hosted at Bizland.com.

From what I can see, all I can do is make minor changes to the existing "theme" and add some enhancements to the page layout.

But my key question for starters is...how can I make changes to the storefront and allow the client review the changes WITHOUT actually publishing the store to public view. Does Shopsite have a "sandbox" type function where we can make various changes, view them, make adjustments...then Publish it live??

I've clicked through the "themes" area and made changes, yet the only way I can see them is to Publish and when I did that...BAM - it was live, so I have to quickly undo my edits.

Much thanks for any tips on this matter or how I can do additional custom edits to the layout.

John

[Jim]

The best way to do this would be to get a demo store and make changes to that and then move the changes to the live store when you and your client are satisfied with the look.

Since they have a Manager level store I would start with the demo Tina's Toys, which is a manager demo. You can get a demo store at http://ademostore.com/cgi-bin/ssdemos/start.cgi?demo=store&storename=tinasdemo
You can download the pages and products from the clients store and upload them to the demo store (after deleting the existing products and pages in the demo store) and the store will essentially be the same as their store.


If you want to use the feature of the Pro level store you can get an empty store at:
http://ademostore.com/cgi-bin/ssdemos/start.cgi?demo=store&storename=evaluate
or one that is prepopulated with some data at
http://ademostore.com/cgi-bin/ssdemos/start.cgi?demo=store&storename=alsdemo

If they like the look and feature of the Pro store they could have their host upgrade them to the Pro level, I don't know what the price difference is but for the many more features that they would get it would probably be worth the difference if they are doing much business. You can see a comparison of the features in each at http://www.shopsite.com/scchecklist.html.

Note that the demo stores will be using ShopSite 11 sp2 instead of 11 sp1 that your client currently has, so some features in the feature list won't be in their version, You can see the features that were added in 11 sp2 at
http://shopsite.com/help/11.2/en-US/sc/pro/index.htm?page=/help/11.2/en-US/new-features.html

[RioJohn]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the quick reply and the worthy tips.

I will try out the demo store idea and the Pro shop.

Have a great day

John