Actinic Catalog (was: Sites in a box)

date posted 1st November 2000 15:41

Hi all

Having used Actinic Catalog for over a year now and actively participating
in the Actinic user group I think I'm in a position to give a verdict.

Unless you want a "cheapo" solution and the client just wants a basic,
non-pretty e-commerce enabled catalogue (yes, catalogue, I'm English after
all!) then I'd stay well away. As Ruth is finding out, anything less than
simple modifications is a bit of a pain and the number of problems with V4
(after a couple of months they're on patch 5!) makes you wonder why they
released it so soon - oh yeah, they just got a wedge of VC funding so they
have to look to be making rapid progess ;-)

Having said all that, the encryption bit that doesn't require SSL to
transmit credit card info is good, as it saves money on SSL servers and
certificates, it doesn't however show that all important padlock though
which the public are always warned about...

In conclusion, Catalog is probably the best of the breed and if someone
wants a cheap solution to add an e-commerce element to their small high
street shop then it does the job.

You can see what I achieved with it at http://www.oro.co.uk but to get it
like this was a few months work and I still think there are better ways.

I'm actually developing some software at the moment for creating online
stores from a couple of databases (one for the products, one for the setup)
so if anyone's interested, then get in touch :-)

Cheers

Richard

Richard Eaton @ Mediatek
E-commerce / Interactive TV / TV-commerce / Database driven web sites
Website: http://www.mediatek.co.uk
E-mail: [EMAIL REMOVED]
Tel: 01937 842463
Mobile: 07971 265698


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL REMOVED]
> [EMAIL REMOVED] Behalf Of Ruth Arnold
> Sent: 01 November 2000 14:09
> To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
> Subject: Re: FN-FORUM Sites in a box
>
>
> I know exactly what you mean Morgan - am having Actinic Catalog learning
> curve from hell problems at the moment.
>
> Take a look at http://www.chocolatefrog.co.uk/acatalog/
>
> It's still in development at the moment, so it's changing from minute to
> minute. Also, the credit card facility is set up but in test mode, so no
> money is being debited from customer accounts as yet.
>
> If this is the future of cheap ecommerce solutions I think we're doing
> something badly wrong. The Actinic templates are devlishly difficult to
> understand and even harder to modify. Trying to get this software
> to do what
> I want it to has almost reduced me to tears this week!
>
> Mind you, have been working until midnight or 1 am every night
> for the last
> 3 weeks has meant nerves are fraying anyway ;-)
>
> The site's not fully live yet, but if you guys can spot any bloopers I'd
> greatly appreciate it.
>
> Thanks guys,
>
> ruth arnold
> spacehoppa.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Morgan Richards" [EMAIL REMOVED]
> To: [EMAIL REMOVED]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 12:35 PM
> Subject: RE: FN-FORUM Sites in a box
>
>
> > It is funny this thread should have appeared today, because I
> am spending
> > today learning the inner workings of Actinic Business. The
> problem I have
> > with these products is two fold. 1) They make it very difficult to
> > customise, not impossible but they all use custom taging which can be a
> > bugger to understand. 2) They are restrictive, for instance in Actinic
> > Business although you can have multiple price bands for
> diffrent customers
> > you can not remove certain items so certain customers can see certain
> items.
> >
> > I do agree with Peter for small business this is the way it will go, but
> for
> > medium and larger companies they will still require custom
> sites to enable
> > them to do what they want (or maybe there will be bolt on
> additions to the
> > software to enable certain aspects to be done by the software,
> so you can
> > add what functionality you need to your own site).
> >
> > Morgan
>
>