Working with ShopSite

Creating a New Store with the OrderAnywhere Linker

Follow these steps to create a new store using your HTML authoring application and ShopSite’s OrderAnywhere Linker, or to add [Order] and [Checkout] buttons to existing Web pages.

1. Create Your Store's Pages

   Use your HTML authoring application to create your store's pages. You can make them as plain or as fancy as you like, and you can use features like frames and Java. Live it up! Create a main page for your store to welcome customers, and create pages that display and describe your store's products. Leave space on the product pages for the buttons that customers will click on to actually buy the products.

 

2. Add Products to the ShopSite Database

   

   Use your browser to log in to ShopSite. Click the Products button to reach the main Products screen. Click the Add a Product button to add products one-at-a-time to your store's database, or, better yet, click the Add Several Products button to add several products at once. You only need to set values for the Name and Price fields for each product. Optionally, you can set values for the SKU field to aid in tracking products (product SKUs are displayed in the shopping basket and on orders). None of the other product fields are used by the OrderAnywhere Linker feature.

 

3. Create Order and Checkout Buttons

   

   After you have added all of your products to the ShopSite database, click the Merchandising button, then click the OrderAnywhere button to reach the OrderAnywhere Linker screen. (For ShopSite Express users, just click the OrderAnywhere button on the main toolbar.)

   From this screen, you can create [Order] buttons for products and [Checkout] buttons that you can drag and drop into your HTML authoring application. You can also create HTML code for the buttons that you cut and paste into your authoring application. Both methods achieve the same result, but you may want to create buttons if you aren't very familiar with HTML coding.

   To create buttons:

    

   1. Control-click the products in the list for which you want to create buttons, then click the Show Selected Links button. To create buttons for all products, just click the Show All Links button at the bottom of the screen.

    

   2. The resulting page contains [Order] and [Checkout] buttons for all the products that you selected. If you configured ShopSite to use images for the buttons, you'll see the images.

    

   To create HTML:

    

   1. Control-click the products in the list for which you want to create HTML, then click the Show Selected HTML button. To create HTML for all products, just click the Show All HTML button.

    

   2. The resulting page contains HTML tags for the [Order] and [Checkout] buttons for all the products that you selected.

    

4. Move the Buttons to your HTML Authoring Application

   With your browser open, start your HTML authoring application and open a page that you’ll use to sell products.

If you created buttons (links):

1. Move the application windows around on your screen so that you can see at least part of the authoring application when your browser window is in front. In your browser window, click on the [Order] button for one product and drag it onto the authoring application window and drop it. You can drop it anywhere on the page and move it later, or you can try to drop it exactly where you want it.

 

2. Drag and drop any other [Order] buttons for products on that page. Open different pages in your authoring application as needed.

If you created HTML:

 

1. Click and drag to select the first line of HTML code for a product, then use the Copy function of your browser to copy it to the clipboard.

 

2. Switch to your authoring application and put the cursor where you want the [Order] button for that product.

 

3. Paste the HTML code into the authoring application.

 

4. Copy and Paste the HTML code for any other [Order] buttons for products on that page. Open different pages in your authoring application as needed.

 

5. Add Checkout Buttons

   All [Checkout] buttons are the same; they are not specific to each product. Drag (or copy and paste) a [Checkout] button to any place on a page from which you want customers to be able to view the contents of their shopping basket.

 

6. Optional - Customize the Buttons

   Once you have the buttons and their associated HTML tags in your authoring application, you can change the text of the buttons or replace them with graphic buttons. Be careful not to make any changes to the HTML tags! See the documentation for your authoring application for further instructions.

 

7. Upload The Store Pages to Your Server

   Save your store's pages in your HTML authoring application. Use FTP or some other method to copy the pages to the server that hosts your store. The store does not have to be hosted on the server that is running ShopSite; the [Order] and [Checkout] buttons will work even if the store pages and ShopSite are on different servers.

 

8. Test The Store

   Use your browser to access the main page of your store. Go to a product page and click the [Order] button for a product. Your browser should be redirected to the shopping basket page for your store, and the product should be listed in the shopping basket. Click the Continue Shopping button, and your browser should return to the same product page in your store. Click a [Checkout] button. Your browser should be redirected back to the shopping basket.

ShopSite Help and Resource Center March 31, 2000 Give Feedback

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