Amy Andrews - November 16th, 2011
-
Some web frames and Flash cannot be viewed on iPhones, iPads, and other mobile devices at this point, so if you have a navigation that is made with Flash, we would just restructure it to be plain text links
-
Test to make sure all images look good and remove, replace, or update images that do not
-
Remove pop-ups
-
Restructure pop-out menus so that the navigation works properly
-
Reduce large text size
-
Look at your website colors and make sure they are easy to read on a mobile device
It is important that your website is working properly and it is easy to read the content on a mobile device. Content like your phone number and address will most likely be the number one thing people search for on their mobile devices as well as blog posts or support pages. It's important that your contact page, supporting pages, and blog look good and are easy to read on mobile devices so your visitors do not get frustrated when viewing your website on their mobile device.
According to the IDC (http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23028711) "By 2015, more U.S. Internet users will access the Internet through mobile devices than through PCs or other wireline devices." This statistic alone would make me want my website to be easily accessible on mobile devices.
Amy Andrews - November 9th, 2011
Member Search
The new member search in ExpressionEngine 2.3 allows you to use search commands on the members listing page. This makes it easier to find your website members. You can view this feature in your control panel by going to Members -> View All
You can search your list of members by member id, username, screen_name, and/or email. Here is an example of how to search:
screen_name:"john doe" email:gmail.com
.png)
Be sure if you use any spaces in your search, to put the phrase in quotes. You will also need to put a colon after the keyword you are searching for. To edit the members information, just click on the their username link and it will take you to that specific members information page.
File Manager
The new file manager in ExpressionEngine 2.3 lets you easily view and search for files associated with your website. In one place you can search for, delete, and upload your files. In your control panel go to Content -> Files -> File Manager. You will also go here to upload and download your website files.
.png)
These new ExpressionEngine 2.3 updates will make it easier for you to manage your websites. The new Member Seach makes it a lot easier to find and edit members of your website. The new File Manager makes organizing and updating your website files a lot more time efficient.
Shawn - April 18th, 2011
A client of ours recently sent in this email they received (below):
From: Webmail Administrator [mailto:long-deb@sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2011 1:53 PM
To: undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Dear Email Account Owner
Your Webmail Quota Has Exceeded The Set Quota/Limit Which Is 20GB.
You Are Currently Running On 23GB Due To Hidden Files And Folder On Your Mailbox.
Please Click the Link Below To Validate Your Mailbox And Increase Your Quota.
http://www.linkremovedforsafety.com
Failure To Click This Link And Validate Your Quota May Result In Loss Of Important Information In Your Mailbox/Or Cause Limited Access To It.
Thanks
HELP DESK
Although you may receive an email notification from our company regarding the quota of your mailbox we will never ask you to complete a form to increase your quota or resolve the problem you're experiencing. Not only should you be very cautious about the links you click in emails, you should be even more cautious about completing a form and supplying personal information (your name, email address, and password, for example). If you're unsure
please just call us and we'll be happy to steer you in the right direction.
Shawn - February 7th, 2011
Before we begin, please let me say that iTistic Inc. does not specialize in Magento. Although we specialize in ProductCart we do feel that Magento has it's place in the e-commerce software world. We just want to make sure you're making the best decision for your organization.
Feature Comparison
Out of all the prospects and clients who we've dealt with and who have thought about Magento, the two biggest reasons are the following two features:
-
Manage multiple online storefronts from one Magento installation
-
Easily customize the look and feel of your storefront without altering the core software
Magento has many other features, but these are the ones we hear about the most. These are two very nice features, ones we wish ProductCart added to their software if we're being honest. There is no current way to manage multiple storefronts using one ProductCart installation. This is certainly a customization that we could develop for you, but it's not something there's software out there for already. As for customizing the look and feel of your storefront: we do this for most of our ProductCart clients. We always integrate a custom designed template with ProductCart and customize the CSS, buttons, and images so your site presents well. If you'd like us to customize other aspects of the software (category pages, product detail pages, the checkout process, etc.) we can do this for you as well. The only difference with ProductCart is that these customizations will likely be overwritten by future updates and will need to be re-implemented afterwards.
Now that we have the Magento features out of the way, lets talk about some ProductCart features. Please take a moment to review the Magento feature comparison. What you'll find is are two things:
-
A lot of the features are only made available in the Professional and Enterprise editions (both whose pricing is exponentially higher than ProductCart)
-
ProductCart provides a lot of the listed features at a much cheaper cost.
A lot of these feature may not be important to you, but here's some features that ProductCart does provide that the Magento Community edition does not:
-
Private (Club) Sales including Events, Invitations and Site access permissions (this will be released with the next version of ProductCart)
-
Gift Registries
-
Automated Email Marketing Reminders (can be easily accomplished using a few add-ons)
-
Assisted Shopping, Manage Customer carts and more via the admin panel
-
Advanced Administrator Roles and Permissions
-
Category View and Purchase permissions per customer group (limited catalog access)
-
PCI Data Security Standard (PA-DSS) Compliant
-
Reward Points System
-
Gift Certificates/Cards (Physical and Virtual)
-
Customer Store Credits
For more information, please be sure to review ProductCart's Complete Feature List. One other thing to consider is that ProductCart works with 36+ payment gateways out of the box without any additional add-ons or modules. Magento only works with a handful of payment gateways out of the box. You may need to purchase a third-party extension to get Magento to work properly with your payment gateway/
Cost Comparison
A lot of organizations and website design & development companies choose Magento due to the relatively low-cost of entry (there is a free community version of the software available). This means it's easier for companies to sell it to you, and it could be cheaper for you to get up and running. In the long run, however, we don't feel most small and medium-sized e-commerce stores are served well by Magento. You will most likely end up outgrowing the Community edition and there will be a significant investment required to upgrade to the Professional or Enterprise versions. Even most large-sized e-commerce stores are better served by ProductCart, in our opinion.
Summary: Magento's Professional and Enterprise editions require an investment of $2,995 and $12,990 per year, respectively. ProductCart requires a one-time investment of $695 to $1,495 depending on the version you choose along with a minimal $95 per year upgrades plan.
Hosting
ProductCart will perform efficiently in shared-hosting environments with many providers. For small and some medium-sized e-commerce stores this is more than sufficient. For large-sized stores we recommend hosting in a dedicated environment. It is suggested by many Magento professionals that you host your Magento installation in dedicated environments only. This is especially true when you're utilizing the Professional or Enterprise editions of their software.
Our Verdict
ProductCart provides a lot more bang for your buck! If you can live without the few advanced features in Magento we feel you'll be much better served by ProductCart in the long run. There are some instances where Magento should be chosen over ProductCart. Rest assured that we're an honest company and will always be straight-forward with you if this is the case.
Further Reading
Take some time to review the articles below if you'd like to know more about how ProductCart compares to Magento:
Some ProductCart Sites We've Designed/Integrated
If you'd like to review some ProductCart sites we've designed and/or integrated please review the sites below:
Shawn - September 17th, 2010
One of the hardest things for a small business owner to do is to differentiate themselves from their competition. But what’s the one thing that we see all too frequently? Pre-made website templates that make them look like a million other people.
To add insult to that injury some template providers break down the designs into categories so there’s a selection of real estate templates or ones “specially designed” for florists.
So what templates are your competitors gravitating towards? The same ones you are because they contain the industry specialized sections that you need and that same pool of stock images.
So here are your biggest issues with pre-fab website templates:
-
Visitors will probably judge you by how professional and creative your website is (or is not)
-
You’ll lose that edge, the distinction that you want associated with your brand and company
-
One size doesn’t fit all
-
You always get what you pay for
-
The most popular pre-made templates (one of which you'd probably choose) are used on thousands of other websites (and can be easily recognized by potential customers who are browsing your industry in search of a resource)
-
Your creative options are vastly limited and everything you do must conform to the pre-made template design
While it’s true that expense is usually the number one reason that business owners flock to the template-style websites, the face of your business is the one place you shouldn’t skimp; what you’re paying for is a first impression.
You need to use better, stronger, slicker tools than your opponents to set yourself apart. And if you stand out from the crowd, you need never look back.
Services
