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Hi Carl,

I would have to agree with eCommerce about not using the server resources here.

I do understand having clients who aren't very computer savvy!   However you have indicated that you were going to work on a multi store environment -  so it would seem that you should be looking for a solution that makes all of the web visitors experiences as quick as possible.   That means using resources for the web visitors best results.  And in the multistore setup,  seems like you might be penalizing the users who do it correctly by managing their pics locally before uploading.

So why don't you try sharing something simple with your beginning customers - that won't be difficult and won't cost them any money.   Use something simple like http://www.picresize.com/ .   It's free,  online,  can use image on the PC or from a web address.  It's also very simple.   There are lots of other out there too.

Also,  don't forget DPI settings also affect the file size.  Currently  72 or 96 seems to work well on webpages.  And makes the files sizes smaller.  There are so many phone pics now,  they all seem to come thru a high DPI, 300 or more.  Great for high quality printing,  useless on the webpage.

I get iPhone photos from one of my clients -  they come in at 300 DPI and 2000 x 2000 sizes -  and about 600 KB,  if I resize to 500 wd pixels,  and 96 DPI  it is 76 KB and looks great on the webpage.  Loads quickly too.

Just my opinion here.

Just another Abantecart user.

I am using version 1.1.7  with the html5 template.   Under Products >  Global Attributes one can set up options.  In the Extension store there is Product Features or Attributes.   They seem somewhat similar to me.  Can you explain the  functional difference in them?

It almost looks like the extension was written for earlier versions and perhaps it have been added to the later versions?

I am basically looking for a way to add  product size, other than just typing in the description area. ( not shipping wt).

Thank you.

Thank you, that should make it quicker.

Good reminder on the clearing of the Cache,  I wouldn't have remember that.

In removing the zones,  is there some better way to remove unwanted zones?   There are almost 400 Pages
and the best I can see is to increase the number shown on a page  to 50,  click the Master check box to turn all of them on,  then one by one uncheck any you want to keep and then select deleted.

If one only wants 2 or 3 countries this is quite a task.

What database(s) contain the zones and countries?  If one is knowledgeable in accessing the database
this would be a faster method.

I am not sure I understand your answer correctly.

Are you saying that a master store with 10 mutli-store setups is considered to be one installation.  And that an extension is good for all 11?

Or are you saying it is considered to be 11 installations?

When one has a multistore setup  I have some ongoing maintenance and extensions questions. 


What happens when you have extensions installed? 

In particular,  extensions that have fees?  Do we need to purchase an extension for every store?  or is it inherited during setup?  If additional purchase - what about multiple license fees at reduced cost?

When there is a version upgrade,  and it is run on the master - is it also necessary to run it on each of the store in some manner or are the features  shared from the master upgrade?

These are important operational issues for deciding how to manage sites after setup.

Thank you for your answers.

Carl,
I believe your decision to have separate installs is the best  in that each of your stores would have totally different inventory items.   It seems to me the multi-store advantage is when you have the same vendor with several locations.  Then the inventory and it's descriptions etc are consistent across all the locations.

Domain names are very inexpensive and giving each store their own unique cart would seem to have a great marketing advantage to them.  The trade off from your side is that you will need to upgrade each cart independently.  But that might be good too,  you'll only mess up one cart at a time (she says laughingly!)

There must be a way to make a "master" store that is configured optimally and then use that as a basic install for each of the stores as they come on to your system.  That way all the great features that you've discovered and setup would already be setup and you would only need to change the url, database location, etc.  I am going to investigate that aspect once I learn about more of the features and get them configured for my project.

As to your Master Marketing page - I also will be working on something like that, at least for the multi store setup.  If I come up with anything that works,  I'll let you know. 

Just another Abantecarte user!

In researching about php mail and SMTP I found this citation:

PHP mail uses the settings in PHP.ini to send email through sendmail. Sendmail is a direct path that just hands over the mail you generated to the system's SMTP server, but requires you to build the header for it. PHP mail does not support SMTP authentication, which is required by many mail servers. Since SMTP requires a valid login to send the mail, the headers match the rDNS records allowing a flawless delivery.

In the long run, SMTP email is the only way to guarantee that your email will arrive in the inbox of your receivers. So don't waste your time with the PHP mail function, instead use a web form that requires SMTP logic.


Can you please address which of the two systems work the best within abantecarte?
If one chooses SMTP  what, if any changes need to be made either within the system,  or within the server?

Additionally,  can more than one email address be used, in either configuration? I would like to use orders@mydomain  for order,  newsletter@mydomain for sending newsletter etc.  I have search Documentation and the board,  but can't find any guidance. 

If we can use more than one email address,  where do we set that up?

Thank you for your response.

Thank you for the information.   I would like to continue the conversation just a bit as I still have some confusion here.

First let me say,  I am not opposed to paying for the Google,  my concerns were more along the lines that the explanation on the extension doesn't tell one about that necessity.  And that until a couple of months ago Google API1 was a free service,  then they changed to API2 and made it only a paid service.   It's the concern with being tethered to Google services as they are prone to changing their way of offering services. 

Next,  there seems to be something that is installed with abantecart version 1.1.7  that does do translation if the settings are done correctly - setting them to on in the correct places.  It does function upon editing of a block.  So what is that?  How does it differ from the Google API2?

If one installs the Google,  how could one roll it back to what's initially included in abantecart?  It is just a matter of turning off the extension and changing the setting in Text Translation Method: back to the  Default method is a straight copy of source language text  on System > Settings?

Thank you for more details on this issue. 

Hello,  I have a bit of experience with SSLs in another environment. Here's what I know about shared SSL.

Shared SSL is not recommended for e-commerce sites, because customers expect to see your domain in the URL.  And if you attempt to use your domain name with the shared certificate, it is not guaranteed to work. Even if visitors can see your site, the shared SSL warnings will make customers uncomfortable submitting their credit card information through your website

If you require an SSL solution,  you should purchase one that is issued just to your domain.  Your hosting provider will be happy to sell you one and they most likely will install it for you also. 

There are all price points and security available - you need to define why you need one, and then compare pricing and features before buying.  Just do a search for SSL and you will learn a lot.

Hope this helps a bit.

Just another abantecart user.

No it's not cache issue.  I added this comment on the original post = but I think you were answering while I was adding


Oh,  I figured it out maybe -  It picks up the image associated with the last sub-category.   So now my question would be how to change that to choose the one I want to use.

So in this case I have three sub-cats,  if I arrange the sort order so that the one I want to show graphic is the last one,  it works.
But that is an unusual way to handle.

Using version 1.1.7 with html5 template.   Where do I edit the graphic that shows on the category pulldown?  I have added the image and it shows on the grid for the category,  but I can't seem to get it to display on the pull down.

I want to replace the 'camera' shot. 

Thanks for the help.


Oh,  I figured it out maybe -  It picks up the image associated with the last sub-category.   So now my question would be how to change that to choose the one I want to use.

Carl,  I am just beginning to understand multi-store setup myself.   But I do know that you can set up users for each store and restrict those users to what they can access.

It is found in System > Users   and then you can setup User groups and/or users.

That gives the Master Admin control.

Additionally you can control any of the categories, products etc  by either having the checkbox for the store on or off.
So if you have product 1 and select Store A and Store B,  both will see product 1,  but they can each set their own pricing.
If you have product 1 and only select Store A,  Store B won't see it in their products listing.

Now what I am still looking to figure out is if Store A sees there is  Store B in the dropdowns.  I think they do,  but haven't tested completely yet.

Hope this helps a bit.

[only available as a paid service.]

In regards to  "Google Translate API 2" extension, Google says it is only available as a paid service.  Important: Google Translate API v2 requires billing information for all accounts before you can start using the service. To sign up for billing, sign in to the Google APIs console and click the Billing tab.   Seems like that detail should be disclosed in the extensions description prior to purchasing.

There also seems to be a Google Website Translator which is free.  Is that what is installed in Abantecart currently?
If so,  why would one want or need to move to the paid service? 

Ok  I've attached a screen shot of my settings:

Note - that there is nothing in Text Translation Box except 'Copy Source Language Text'

I tried editing
Home :: Languages :: Edit  Language - Español
I tried loading (button at the bottom)

I don't see where to get the Google API for Espanol,  it doesn't appear in the extensions store - so maybe directions to how to do that will solve the issue.

If I put something in fresh (not edited)  I get both English and Espanol,  but edit doesn't seem to function correctly.

I am missing something -  I just don't know what

Thanks for keeping at it.