For ecommerce site, if I were selling a small amount of items I'd use
Paypal...otherwise I'd use a pre-fab ecommerce package (why re-invent the
wheel and quite frankly I know very little about online security
issues..credit cards etc.)
So, I'd design the main site in FP or EW or DW (whatever) then install the
ecommerce package in a subweb. That software allows you to admin through a
web interface usually...piece o'cake.
I'm still learning asp.net so I won't speak to that..except that; Your
host
has to have ASP.NET 2.0 enabled on your server. And writing online forms
is
not that hard (that's as far as I've gotten so far :-(
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Giordano
Microsoft MVP Expression
| Rob,
|
| Thanks, I couldn't remember DWT.
|
| I know just as little about ASP.NET as I do EW or FP, but wouldn't
ASP.NET
| be the best solution for an e-commerce site such as this? Wouldn't that
be
| the best way to manage a dynamic site such as this that has lots of
updating
| as per product and pricing? I am not doubting that for design purposes
that
| using EW would be the best choice, but what about managing the site? How
| would it stack up against ASP.NET? How do you use EW in developing and
| managing an e-commerce site? Got any words or links for my education?
|
| I see website size to be one of the "invisible wall" issues with
Publisher
| webs. Managing a large site in Publisher becomes increasingly hard as
the
| site grows, unless it is mostly static. If MSFT would change things so a
| Publisher Master page worked in not only IE but also FF, Publisher webs
| would be soooo much easier to manage. <sigh>
|
| DavidF
|
|
message
| | > Yes, in FP you could do this with a DWT and in EW you could do it with
a
| > DWT(s) or if using ASP.NET you could do it with Master Page(s)...and
it'd
| > be
| > fairly simple.
| >
| > --
| > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| > Rob Giordano
| > Microsoft MVP Expression
| >
| >
| >
| >
| >
| > | > | For the benefit of others, we are talking about
| > |
http://www.electronicsstations.com
| > |
| > | This is an example of where you run up against that "invisible wall"
| > that
| > | Rob was talking about in the other thread. The fact that content on
the
| > | master page in a Publisher web will not render in FireFox and other
| > non-IE
| > | browsers is a major design deficiency in my opinion. This is the
type
of
| > | limitation, or "invisible wall" that prompts people to move away
from
| > | Publisher for web building as their site gets larger and more
| > complicated.
| > |
| > | There is no easy way to move all your content off the master page to
the
| > | main document. You have designed your site so that everything except
the
| > | middle column is on the Master page. If you were using Web
Expression
or
| > a
| > | some other more sophisticated web programs, a "master page" would be
a
| > | functional part of the program, and there would be a way to simple
| > switch
| > | out that "master page" across the web site for another. Furthermore
| > given
| > | how large your site is, the fix is going to take some work.
| > |
| > | I think the workflow I would follow would be to make a copy of your
Pub
| > doc,
| > | and use it as a working copy in case something goes wrong. I would
open
| > the
| > | original publication and the working copy in two instances of
Publisher.
| > I
| > | would go to the working copy and delete the master page. Then go
back
to
| > the
| > | original, view the master page, select all and group, and copy. Then
| > back
| > to
| > | the working copy with out the master, and paste the group of design
| > elements
| > | that you just copied from the master onto the first publication
page.
| > Adjust
| > | the fit and alignment by moving the group around, and then copy that
| > group
| > | again. Now when you move to the second page, I think you can just
| > | paste...perhaps use Ctrl + V, and that group of design elements will
| > paste
| > | in the same location as the first page and won't require any moving.
If
| > so,
| > | then you can just move through your document, one page at a time and
| > paste,
| > | and it won't take that long to edit the whole publication. Note, one
| > | important step to take is that after you have pasted and aligned all
the
| > | design elements from the master page to the main publication page,
be
| > sure
| > | to ungroup those elements from each other. Grouping can and does
create
| > | problems when converted to html.
| > |
| > | Sorry, I just don't know of an easier way. I really hope that MSFT
| > | eventually makes changes such that we can use a master page in a web
| > | document.
| > |
| > | I also wish that they had a simple option built-in to center the web
| > pages,
| > | but they don't. Don figured out a way to do this fairly easily with
Pub
| > 2002
| > | and older, but it took the help of Jo and Spike to come up with a
way
to
| > | center Pub 2003 and 2007 pages.:
| > |
| > | Pub 2003 and 2007 from Jo:
| > |
| > | "UNDERNEATH the <body> tag, enter (copy and paste will work) this
| > code
you
| > | may need to change the width)
| > |
| > | <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="1000"
| > | align="center">
| > | <tr>
| > | <td>
| > |
| > | ------------------------------------
| > |
| > | ABOVE the </body> tag, enter the following:
| > |
| > | </td>
| > | </tr>
| > | </table>
| > |
| > |
| > | Jo
| > |
| > | --------------
| > | Pub 2003 and 2007 from Spike:
| > |
| > | Using "replace in files" I found a common point of replacement that
| > appears
| > | to work for me for Publisher 2007.
| > |
| > | Since the background changes from one publication to another I found
the
| > | closest commonality after <body>.
| > | That turned out to be </v:background></xml><![endif]-->
| > |
| > | Since "replace in files" needs to have the entire text on one line I
| > made
| > | the replacement string as shown below.
| > | I also changed the 1000 to 800 to accommodate the 1024 X 768
settings.
| > I
| > | tested it with the settings:
| > | 800 X 600
| > | 1024 X 768
| > | 1440 X 900
| > |
| > | Not perfectly centered but real close
| > |
| > | Takes two runs of "replace in files"
| > | Once the strings are typed in it just takes selecting the ones you
want
| > with
| > | the drop down arrow for Find and Replace With
| > |
| > |
| > | Find = </v:background></xml><![endif]-->
| > |
| > |
| > | Replace With = </v:background></xml><![endif]--><table
border="0"
| > | cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="800" align="center"><tr><td>
| > |
| > |
| > |
| > | Find </body>
| > |
| > | Replace With </td></tr></table></body>
| > |
| > | Spike"
| > |
| > | ---------------------------------
| > | My notes:
| > |
| > | The link to ReplaceInFiles:
| > |
http://www.emurasoft.com/replall/index.htm
| > |
| > | As centering Publisher pages requires that you edit the code each
time
| > you
| > | update your Publisher publication and produce new html, using
| > ReplaceInFiles
| > | to semi-automate the process seems essential to me. It just isn't
| > practical
| > | to open each .htm page in NotePad each time and insert Jo's code
| > manually.
| > |
| > | As per Spike's method of using ReplaceInFiles, change the width to
the
| > pixel
| > | width of your pages instead of 800. In most cases if you used a
default
| > size
| > | in Publisher, it will be 760 pixels.
| > |
| > | I also think that each person using ReplaceInFiles will have to find
a
| > | "common point of replacement" that is appropriate for your file. In
my
| > | limited testing of Spike's method I haven't found that the string:
| > | </v:background></xml><![endif]--> is universal. To find a string to
| > replace
| > | in your publication, do a web page preview of your home page, and
then
| > in
| > IE
| > | go to View > Source. This will open that page in NotePad. Then in
| > NotePad
| > go
| > | to Edit > Find and type in "body" without the quotes. Find the first
| > | reference to "body" after </head>. This is the first string that
will
| > need
| > | to be replaced.
| > |
| > | In the case of
http://www.electronicsstations.com this string is:
| > |
| > | <body link=blue vlink="#660099" style='margin:0'>
| > |
| > | Add Jo's code to this string:
| > |
| > | <body link=blue vlink="#660099" style='margin:0'><table border="0"
| > | cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="760"
| > | align="center"><tr><td>
| > |
| > | This will be the first replacement string.
| > |
| > | The last replacement string would be as Spike describes it:
| > |
| > | Find </body>
| > |
| > | Replace With </td></tr></table></body>
| > |
| > |
| > | As I said, I have only done limited testing with this, as the
workaround
| > was
| > | only recently presented by Jo and Spike, so you may have to play
with
| > it.
| > | Remember that you will have to do this edit each time to each page
after
| > you
| > | make any changes in the Publisher doc, and create new html.
| > |
| > | Perhaps this is yet another example of coming up against the
"invisible
| > | wall", as centering a page is a built-in function in programs that
are
| > | specifically designed for webs. It should be a built-in feature of
| > Publisher
| > | but it isn't. Publisher is a DTP and has limitations, and thus
requires
| > | these sort of workarounds if you want to use it for webs.
| > |
| > | DavidF
| > |
| > |
| > | | > | > Thanks DavidF and Rob Giobardono for your replies. All your
remarks
| > were
| > | > real. In effect, I still need your help for exercising your
| > suggestions:
| > | >
| > | > 1- How can I take the content of the site off the master pages
| > without
| > | > affecting them or rebuilding the whole site? Is there any way?
| > | >
| > | > 2- I'm using Publisher 2003. So how can I center my web pages?
| > | >
| > | > Thanks.
| > | >
| > | >
| > | >
| > |
| > |
| > |
| >
| >
|
|
