What if I'm used to creating HTML pages by hand and FTPing them to my server?

If you are comfortable with the normal method of publishing a Web page, you are much further along than the average ShopSite merchant. Though you will have to accustom yourself somewhat, after making a few adjustments you will be using the ShopSite system to its full potential.

The first thing that you need to remember is that you do not create any HTML documents when you use the ShopSite system--you enter data into a database, and the pages are automatically generated. That does not mean that you cannot use your knowledge of HTML code and Web layout to its full advantage, it simply means that you need to limit your design into components, blocks of text and HTML that can be entered into your store's database.

A ShopSite store is an integration of a Web site and a database. In order for your online ordering system to work, and for changes made to your databases to manifest themselves in your Web site, you must work within the ShopSite system. The text and HTML you design for a page may not be the only item on that page. It may have several products and a footer on it as well. All these components are separate data fields, which you must keep separate in order for the system to work. Sometimes you may want to create an informational page that contains only one continuous block of text and HTML. You may still choose to present that page through the ShopSite structure, so that it will be recorded in relation to the other pages in your store.

You still have the option of creating and uploading entire HTML pages and integrating them with your ShopSite-generated pages, but you will have to take the responsibility for making and maintaining the links between the pages. Pages not created through the ShopSite system will not be recorded in the Pages section of the back office.

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