Once you have downloaded
your zip file you'll need to double click on it and extract the
contents of the download to where you want to work from on your
hard drive.
Then open Expression Web and go to File > Open
Site and browse to where you unzipped the download to.
Then click on "Open"
You should see a list of files and folders that
make up your store.
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Extras - this is where the original png files and blank gifs
can be found
Fpdb - (ASP version only) this folder contains your Access
database
Images - the default images used in the design
Prodimages - the product images used on the product pages
Templates - this contains the dwt file
which will be used to make global updates to the design of
the store
Vsadmin - this contains all the admin files and when uploaded
to your server, will be the location of your store control
panel. |
Global changes to the design can be made through
the dwt file. This can be found in the Templates folder. Global
elements are typically the header section, menu, news and footer.
When you open the dwt file by double clicking on it you may see
a box appear like this
Even if this box doesn't appear you should go to
Site > Site Settings and in the tab labeled General, make sure
you have checked the box labeled Manage the Web site using hidden
metadata files.
Once you have checked the box and clicked "OK"
at the bottom of the window you may get another box like the one
below. Click on yes.
You can now start making changes through the dwt
file. Open the dwt file and make a small change. On saving the
file you should receive a prompt like this
Select "Yes" and the change you made will now be
applied to all the files that are attached to the template. You
can now go on and make all the global design changes you need to.
You will also need to make some design changes
on a page by page basis. When you open the page you should see
code
that
is editable with a white background and the code that is governed
by the dwt and is not editable page by page has a yellow background.
In design view the editable region is outlined
in orange with the name of the editable region in a tab at the
top.
Now that you can see how the general design changes can be made,
this is how you would proceed.
- Get your general design done locally, more or less the look
you need for the site - don't worry about the products and links
for the moment. The ecommerce templates come with .png files
in the images/extras folder, so changing colors, titles and company
name etc is simple - Adobe
have a 30 day free trial available for Fireworks if you don't
already have a copy.
- You don't need to make any design changes to the files in the
vsadmin folder as you'll be the only one using those pages
for adding product information, shipping stuff, categories,
credit
card processors etc.
- Now you can upload all your site to your server
- you can do this through Expression Web itself or
using a specialist
FTP program.
- This is where the fun starts - you'll probably want to get
some categories and products on your store so you'll have to
log into
the admin section - chances are that first of all you'll need
to change the path to your database in the file vsadmin/db_conn_open.asp
or vsadmin/db_conn_open.php - here's a quick way of checking
to get the path correct for the ASP ecommerce
plus
templates and here for the PHP
version.
- Now that's done log into your online admin control panel at
www.yourdomain.com/vsadmin/login.asp or www.yourdomain.com/vsadmin/login.php
- and the first thing to do is change the default username and
password so no-one else can get in.
- Take a look around the various options, the ecommerce templates
come with some sample products, categories and descriptions and
although they will need to be deleted, they should give you a
good idea of how the system works.
- That's about it, you can now start setting up your shopping
cart and site in general - check out the user
manual and
if you run into any difficulties, take a look at the support
forums.
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