Do I just need a Shopping Cart?

"Paul" <paul.DeleteThis@loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
 > Hello,
 >
 > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since I
 > have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver MX) I
 > am at a loss as to how to start.
 > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of stuff
 > if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills? Also, what
 > else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure a payment
 > account?...
 >
 > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
 > appreciated.

What's the product? How many sales are anticipated?

For most small businesses, something like <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ccnow.com" target="_blank">www.ccnow.com</a> or <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.clickbank.com" target="_blank">www.clickbank.com</a>
will do a good job for you, and they require a minimum of HTML to set up.
--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">www.CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

"switch_case" <no.DeleteThis@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:MrqdnXtanODTEt7dRVn-jQ@yvn.com...
 >
 > "Paul" <paul.DeleteThis@loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
 > news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
  > > Hello,
  > >
  > > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since I
  > > have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver MX) I
  > > am at a loss as to how to start.
  > > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of stuff
  > > if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills? Also, what
  > > else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure a payment
  > > account?...
  > >
  > > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
  > > appreciated.
 >
 > I recommend you hire a developer... and fast !
 >

This is great:
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.oscommerce.com/" target="_blank">http://www.oscommerce.com/</a>

I use it for my site:
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.cranberrycorners.ca/purchase/" target="_blank">http://www.cranberrycorners.ca/purchase/</a>

david<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

"Charles Sweeney" <me RemoveThis @charlessweeney.com> wrote in message news:<c1vq6d$1k907b$1@ID-162618.news.uni-berlin.de>...
 > "Paul" <paul RemoveThis @loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
 > news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
  > > Hello,
  > >
  > > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since I
  > > have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver MX) I
  > > am at a loss as to how to start.
  > > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of stuff
  > > if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills? Also, what
  > > else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure a payment
  > > account?...
  > >
  > > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
  > > appreciated.
 >
 > What's the product? How many sales are anticipated?
 >
<font color=purple> > For most small businesses, something like <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ccnow.com" target="_blank">www.ccnow.com</a> or <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.clickbank.com</font" target="_blank">www.clickbank.com</font</a>>
 > will do a good job for you, and they require a minimum of HTML to set up.

It's a firn that creates flower bouquets. There would only be a dozen
or so products, but the client does want usernames and passwords for
some users.

Is Actinic any good - I've just been looking for software.

Thanks, Paul<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

"switch_case" <no.DeleteThis@thanks.com> wrote in message news:<MrqdnXtanODTEt7dRVn-jQ.DeleteThis@yvn.com>...
 > "Paul" <paul.DeleteThis@loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
 > news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
  > > Hello,
  > >
  > > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since I
  > > have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver MX) I
  > > am at a loss as to how to start.
  > > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of stuff
  > > if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills? Also, what
  > > else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure a payment
  > > account?...
  > >
  > > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
  > > appreciated.
 >
 > I recommend you hire a developer... and fast !

I suspect you're right, but I just want to make sure I can't do it myself.

Thanks, Paul<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

"Paul" <paul DeleteThis @loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5dbf8605.0403020322.1a7b205c@posting.google.com...
 > "Charles Sweeney" <me DeleteThis @charlessweeney.com> wrote in message
news:<c1vq6d$1k907b$1@ID-162618.news.uni-berlin.de>...
  > > "Paul" <paul DeleteThis @loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
  > > news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
   > > > Hello,
   > > >
   > > > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since I
   > > > have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver MX) I
   > > > am at a loss as to how to start.
   > > > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of stuff
   > > > if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills? Also, what
   > > > else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure a payment
   > > > account?...
   > > >
   > > > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
   > > > appreciated.
  > >
  > > What's the product? How many sales are anticipated?
  > >
  > > For most small businesses, something like <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ccnow.com" target="_blank">www.ccnow.com</a> or
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.clickbank.com" target="_blank">www.clickbank.com</a>
  > > will do a good job for you, and they require a minimum of HTML to set
up.
 >
 > It's a firn that creates flower bouquets. There would only be a dozen
 > or so products, but the client does want usernames and passwords for
 > some users.
 >
 > Is Actinic any good - I've just been looking for software.

ccnow.com would be ideal for the sales side. For the usernames you will
need some sort of script to tie in with it. That's where it starts to get
more involved!

Looks like you need to tell her to hire someone else, or settle for a simple
online store through ccnow in the meantime.

I have never used Actinic. Oscommerce.org is highly spoken of. In both
cases you would need a bit more than rudimentary html knowlege.
--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">www.CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

paul.TakeThisOut@loopholeswebdesign.co.uk (Paul) wrote in
news:5dbf8605.0403020322.1a7b205c@posting.google.com:

 > "Charles Sweeney" <me.TakeThisOut@charlessweeney.com> wrote in message
 > news:<c1vq6d$1k907b$1@ID-162618.news.uni-berlin.de>...
  >> "Paul" <paul.TakeThisOut@loopholeswebdesign.co.uk> wrote in message
  >> news:5dbf8605.0403010852.56548b81@posting.google.com...
   >> > Hello,
   >> >
   >> > A customer has asked me to set up an online ordering system. Since
   >> > I have virtually no HTML or coding experience (I use Dreamweaver
   >> > MX) I am at a loss as to how to start.
   >> > Is there any good WYSIWYG software out there that can do lots of
   >> > stuff if you want, but that requires virtually no coding skills?
   >> > Also, what else do I need to do? Presumably I'll need to configure
   >> > a payment account?...
   >> >
   >> > I think I'm out of my depth here, but any help would be greatly
   >> > appreciated.
  >>
  >> What's the product? How many sales are anticipated?
  >>
  >> For most small businesses, something like <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.ccnow.com" target="_blank">www.ccnow.com</a> or
  >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.clickbank.com" target="_blank">www.clickbank.com</a> will do a good job for you, and they require a
  >> minimum of HTML to set up.
 >
 > It's a firn that creates flower bouquets. There would only be a dozen
 > or so products, but the client does want usernames and passwords for
 > some users.
 >
 > Is Actinic any good - I've just been looking for software.

You know what ? For only a dozen products (and if there isn't any
anticipation of this increasing in the near future), you may want to
suggest simply putting the ordering system all on one page and skip the
shopping cart altogether.

It seems that 'shopping cart' has fallen into a buzz-wordish use these
days... A shopping cart was originally designed to let a user add
products to a virtual 'cart' and keep on browsing the store - this is
really useful when a site has dozens or hundreds of products where
listing it all on one page is unrealistic or unwieldy.

For such a short list, though, you could easily do it on a single
ordering page and save the client a lot of time and expense.

Now, if this product list is often-changing, or will be expanding soon,
then a DB-driven cart system is definitely a sound investment, as it will
pay for itself in saved fees from having to go to the developer each time
a change/addition is requested...

--
Marc Bissonnette
CGI / Database / Web Management Tools: <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.internalysis.com" target="_blank">http://www.internalysis.com</a>
Something To Sell? Looking To Buy? <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.whitewaterclassifieds.ca" target="_blank">http://www.whitewaterclassifieds.ca</a>
Looking for a new ISP? <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.canadianisp.com" target="_blank">http://www.canadianisp.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

Marc Bissonnette wrote:

 > You know what ? For only a dozen products (and if there isn't any
 > anticipation of this increasing in the near future), you may want to
 > suggest simply putting the ordering system all on one page and skip the
 > shopping cart altogether.

For a small, stable list of items, Mal's e-commerce site might work.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart? 

Scott Bryce <sbryce.DeleteThis@scottbryce.com> wrote in message news:<1049kvcqpag3n4b.DeleteThis@corp.supernews.com>...
 > Marc Bissonnette wrote:
 >
  > > You know what ? For only a dozen products (and if there isn't any
  > > anticipation of this increasing in the near future), you may want to
  > > suggest simply putting the ordering system all on one page and skip the
  > > shopping cart altogether.
 >
 > For a small, stable list of items, Mal's e-commerce site might work.

Thanks for the help, guys. The client seems to want a lot of
functions, so I'm going to suggest a developer. I've had a look at
some of the recommendations here, but since I'm a designer, not a
coder, I think I'll stay clear of it all.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Do I just need a Shopping Cart?