Frequently Asked Questions

You will need to be familiar with the HTML editor/software you are working with, either Dreamweaver or Frontpage - see What Software will I need?. The database connection requires a simple code edit in one file. The source code is available for editing if you have more advanced PHP or ASP skills.

This depends on how many products you have and the information required for each product. The database and store pages can be set-up within an hour but you will need to allow time for customizing the design to your own requirements, adding your product information, setting up an account with a payment provider (eg PayPal or WorldPay), and getting used to the store and its functionality.

We have set-up stores containing 100-150 products within a week. Product data can also be uploaded from a spreadsheet.

Yes, it's available on the Help page as a PDF or zip download.

Yes. Specific page details can be set-up that allow each page/product to have unique page titles/meta descriptions. This is important for search engine indexing. Obviously, you will need to use the most important keywords in your product descriptions and product names.

Static HTML pages can also be used for each product.

Most of the common credit card payment processors are supported. These include, for example, PayPal, WorldPay, SecPay, Authorize.net, VeriSign, Protx, ePDQ, NoChex, and NetBanx. Each payment provider has their own requirements. You can also capture credit card details yourself if you have your own SSL certificate or access to a shared SSL certificate. Once you have an account with a payment provider, the admin control panel is used to set-up the store with your chosen payment processor.

For the PHP versions, you will need a UNIX/Linux server with a minimum of PHP 4.1 and a MySQL database (cURL component required for UPS shipping). For the ASP versions, a Windows server capable of running a Microsoft Access database is required. See Web Hosting for some suggestions.

Buy and checkout buttons and prices can be easily removed if you want to adapt an ecommerce template for another use, perhaps as a general website catalogue or as a property listings website. In this way, the database features can still be used. We suggest that you familiarise yourself with the way the templates are organised before buying a template for this reason.

The Dreamweaver and FrontPage templates have features that are specific to those webpage editors. These features can help productivity. The CSS templates use a modern streamlined code structure that does not require these features.

Yes. The generic template has minimal styling and it is possible to copy and paste the ecommerce functionality include files into an existing design.