skipping the home (brochure) page

[jxm28788]

after redesigning my site I have decided that my main product (catolog) page is quite sexy, and makes my home page look a bit lame by comparison.

I would like to ditch my current home page (the brochure page) in favour of my products page.

Currently the home (brochure) page is [website]/index.html and the product (catalog) page is [website]/acatalog/index.html

What is the best way to go about changing this?

Bear in mind that I have already submitted the URL www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/index.html to several search engines, so visitors will be arriving at that address.

I guess if I changed the index.html at the root to auto redirect people to the /acatalog/index.html page the search engines won't like it (that's frowned upon) so that's not a good idea.

And if I manually copy the /acatalog/index.html page to /index.html then all the internal links will be out and it will get overwritten each time actinic updates the website...?

[elfinp]

put a redirect on using an htaccess file. Mine looks like this:

Redirect /index.html http://www.princessstores.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Theres a space after the first index.html

This sends all browsers looking for www.yoursite.com/index.html to www.yoursite.com/acatalog/index.html
It should also send anyone typing in simply www.yoursite.com to the relevant page as well.

To do this, put similar to the redirect line above into a text file and save it as htaccess.txt. FTP it manually to your root directory (the directory before acatalog) on your web server. Rename it to .htaccess (note the . ) once its on your web server using the ftp software's rename command. It will disappear from view but its still there. This will ONLY work if you're on Linux/Unix - no idea how to do it with an NT server


If it doesn't work (and I gather the exact format has been known to vary) then don't panic, you haven't lost access to your site! Do the same but with a blank text file which will reallow access to your site and go a-hunting (search on 'redirect using htaccess') for alternative formats. Should work though.

[jxm28788]

what about search engines? their submission guidelines say don't submit pages that redirect to other pages.

Their reasoning is that they don't want dummy sites (eg affiliates) pointing off to other sites, but I don't want to be delisted because their software thinks I trying to do something like that...

[garyhay]

the .htaccess file is not considered a redirect.

AFAIK It is a system level file that tells the server where the root of the site is.

You should submit http://www.yoursite.com/acatalog to the search engines if this is the base page.

You should also remove the brouchure pages from the Actinic Program and set the homepage link to your actalog/index.html

[jxm28788]

set the homepage link to your actalog/index.html where do I do that?
You should also remove the brouchure pages from the Actinic Program Should I actually delete the section marked 'home' in actinic, or just the page fragments...?

Also, I have an 'about us' page off the home page (it is under 'more pages' in actinic). I assume I can keep 'more pages', but how do I get the 'about us' button in with all the navigation buttons?

[rmladden]

Your really want the acatalog folder to be your root folder. Talk to your ISP. This has become a sore point with me. The Actinic software is telling me that it is smarter than me and I must conform to a certain structure. I edited the setup2 table to bypass the problem because my ISP is not available to make the change.

I have made changes to Actinic.PM and several templates, but Actinic won't trust me to set up my server the way I want? :(

Bob Ladden

[harlequin]

i would like to decide where to upload my store to...

it is a known FACT that for every level you descend into a website, google drops a whole point on its pagerank system!!

it would be far better to put all the pages in the root folder of a website *if* we so desired, it would sort out one heck of a lot of pathway issues (is it a front page, is it a brochure page, is it going to the root, is it going to acatalog, oopps the hardcoding im doing is going all pear shaped..sound familliar?) as well, and not to mention the poor guys who dont want a 'front page' and end up with search engine unfriendly redirects...

time for change methinks...

ps..

bob, do your changes work and allow us to upload where we want to?

pps. if anyone ever wants to know exactly what server they are on go to www.netcraft.com and just type in your url....

[rmladden]

I found the method here at http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2582

It worked well, but you have to be very careful when you edit in Access (as usual). And you can never touch your network settings in Actinic without having to go back into Access again.

I think the reason Actinic does this is to ensure that the folder permissions are set correctly. This is something I found but was able to fix in seconds.

Actinic should just issue a warning to those that want to do this.

Bob Ladden

[harlequin]

does this upload all files into your root folder then? is it true?

steve

[rmladden]

Yes, it did (expect the stuff that still goes in cgi-bin).

I guess someone can write a little application that lets you set it without using Access (Jan: hint).

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

so if you edit the database to make everything go in the root, and (I assume) you call your catlogue page index.html, what do you do about the following -

1) How do you get rid of the 'home' button from the top of the root catalogue page (which now *is* the home page)

2) Do you need to make any changes so the the 'home' button on all the other pages now point to the catalog root page?

3) Do you delete the 'home' section from teh actinic tree?

Once this is done, I'll be ready to upload my newly designed site!

Thanks,

John.

[rmladden]

I deleted all brochure pages. I changed my top section icon to Home and the images to home1.gif and home2.gif (see Navigation). Base page is index.html and clicked None for Home Page Link in the design (Misc.).

Bob Ladden

[Jan]

> (Jan: hint)
:-) ... I'm sitting here trying to make my reports work nicely for the USA with one hand while fixing the printer selection in Quick Orders with the other ;-) Only joking, I'll have a look at it when I get a spare few minutes. You could save me some time and reiterate what the changes are that are required in access to fix up the network settings.

Regards,

[harlequin]

hi guys, for your info, i use ssl on my sites and it seems acatalog is mentioned in setup3 on the actinic database as well....i would imagine those have to be removed as well..

havent tried this yet, will do tonight though..

thanks.

steve q

[jxm28788]

ah, I'm using ssl as well. I better check that.

I have made the other changes though, but I had an 'about us' button under 'other pages' but I had to delete it when deleting the home page.

How do I get an about page now, and how do I get the 'about us' button into the navigation bar?

[rmladden]

I'm using SSL here and I don't have a problem (at least not yet). I did not look at setup3. Be very careful with these edit and use find to find all occurances of acatalog.

Jan,

After giving it some thought, this is something that Actinic should fix before you write a backdoor. Actinic should at least make a statement.

Bob Ladden

P.S. Quick Orders is the best! One suggestion for your next release is to add maybe 3 user reports to the selection list. I had to substitute the data entry report with my second labels.

[Jan]

> P.S. Quick Orders is the best! One suggestion for your next
> release is to add maybe 3 user reports to the selection list.
> I had to substitute the data entry report with my second labels.
I was thinking about having the list of report configurable at some point, there are a lot of reports that could be usefully run from quick orders. I will ponder on it for a while. The next version will include address reformatting, report export, report email, USA address styles and printer selection.

Regards,

[rmladden]

Jan - fantastic.

Back to the SSL settings in setup3. Perhaps those are only used for shared SSL, which I do not use.

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

I'm about to blow away the old site and upload the new site into the root directory - is there any way of me finding out if anyone happens to be viewing my website before I start?

I turned of the adverts earlier and I probably wont be listed in the search engines yet, but there may be existing customers accessing it and I don't want them to be in the middle of an order when I replace the website...

[harlequin]

yep, mine are shared ssl, not all of them by the way :D only the one i was looking at...

steve

[jxm28788]

ack! :eek:

just deleted old website from the server, did all the stuff mentioned including deleting the CGi directory, did an update of the site, it copied the files across, inc cgi files, but...

when I add something to the basket, it then jumps back to /acatalog rather than '/' - where is the return value held!?

[rmladden]

The only think I can think of is that you missed an acatalog. One of the columns in the setup2 table had acatalog appear in it multiple times. Be sure to get them all and use find to double check.

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

have search setup2 and setup3 again (and setup also). no sign of acatalog. Also verified this by opening network settings (but not applying or OK'ing)

the setting must be in actinic somewhere - but where?

[jxm28788]

same if I press 'back' from the checkout...:(

[rmladden]

Have you deleted ALL of the Actinic CGI files before uploading?

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

yes, and the directory.

[rmladden]

I was just able to shop in your store, put stuff in the cart, shop some more, and proceed to checkout just fine with no sign of acatalog in the url.

It looks good in the US.

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

so if you add a product it automatically jumps back to the home page from the cart?

and if you go to the checkout then press 'back' that works as well?

was it a blue site or an orange site?

[rmladden]

Your problem is in e-clear and not Actinic. It is set to go to http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/acatalog/

Change it in e-clear or put a redirect file in the acatalog folder.

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

just for the checkout or for both?

but at that stage it hasn't got to e-clears server has it? it doesn't go to eclear until another couple of pages further on. It is on SSL though when in the checkout - but not the cart...

how do I do a redirect, maybe that'll fix it until we can get the proper solution?

[rmladden]

Originally posted by jxm28788
so if you add a product it automatically jumps back to the home page from the cart?

and if you go to the checkout then press 'back' that works as well?

was it a blue site or an orange site?


It went back to the page with the product.

Back worked.

It is Orange.


Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

huh, that's strange. maybe it's some sort of caching problem...? I've deleted my temporary files and refreshed the page but it makes no difference.

[rmladden]

Do you have a security program on your computer that blocks the referrer information?

Bob Ladden

[harlequin]

in your c://program files>actinic ecom>version x>sites>your site folder> you will see a folder called Site HTML

go into and delete everything in it..

in Actinic go to Web>Refresh Website and see if it still looks for acatalog after cart...

we have found before that for some reason some files dont get uploaded even though they blatantly should be unless you manually delete all the files in the site html folder, this then generates a whole new bunch of html files and its a clean refresh then....

this is particualarly the case if you have customised your templates a lot. ;)

it may not help though, but just might....

steve q.

ps. Im not one to chase after business on the forum but I'm thinking of offering simple spare webspace that you or any actinic user can upload to and test all you like without risking your live site.

It takes me an hour to setup an actinic webspace on our servers, with shared ssl, and prepare you an import for your network settings, all running, tested, and visable to the whole web.

you could upload to my server and test whenever it suits you....you probably would get harlequin support with actinic queries as well...especially if something is broke....
oh yeah, you would have to agree not to trade under the test url as all my full paying customers would go loopy...ha.

price say £50+vat per year

is anyone interested ??

[jxm28788]

funnily enough I was just checking that.

I switched zonealarm off and it worked, so that will be the well known problem of it going to the wrong place.

that explains why yours works (it's going back to where it came from) and mine didn't (zonealarm block the variable so it goes back to a default location). just got to find out where that default location is set...

[rmladden]

I just tested with my site. The default location seems to be the last page it was at when the referrer information was last allowed to be passed. It must be in the cookie.

All that sweating for nothing.

Bob Ladden

[jxm28788]

but when I switched zonealarm back on and tried again it still tries to go back to acatalog.

and no the deleting site html didn't work...

and don't actinic have a test server already?

[rmladden]

Did you put something in the cart while zone alarm was turned off?

[harlequin]

did you do the graphics and all the template stuff yourself in the end?

not only have you got your site into the root directory <jealous smiley> but you seem to have gotton exactly what you want with the navigation etc...

sorry, cant open actinic at the moment to test where your baseurl is coming from but im sure some bright wag will post up here and cure that last issue for you..apart from that its really neat...

dont think you are just allowed to use the actinic test server if there is such a thing....its just a thought my offer really, quite often people only have their 1 and only webspace to upload to so its not only worrying to test on your live site, i think it puts a lot of people off upgrading/customising/playing around with actinic....

steve

[jxm28788]

AHA! :D

just closed down all my IE and ran a clean up. restarted and hey presto everything works ok, zonealarm and all.

Don't know if it was the cookie or some other IE temp setting but it works now!

just hope that customers who have visited the old site don't get the same problem - luckily there haven't been many...

:rolleyes: what a hassle. and look at the time - it's hardly worth going to bed now, it'll be time to get up soon... ho hum.

thanks for your help, I'm going to bed now before the wife reports me missing...

[jxm28788]

yes, i did it myself in the end. It was a bit of a learning experience but that's good for when I do phase 3, when I plan to jazz it up even more with some nice buttons and nicer boxes (not some I knocked up in MS paint...)

I'm pretty impressed with it, even if I do say so myself. :D

much better than that first effort. :cool:

Now we just have to see if the girlies like it.

[harlequin]

:D

[rmladden]

Congratulations and good night!:D

I think I read here that the referrer thing will be fixed in 6.1.4.

[jxm28788]

Your problem is in e-clear and not Actinic. It is set to go to http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/acatalog/ Now that I'm awake (just) I realise that I will need to get e-clear to change this as well... although luckily it's only the failure screen that redirects incorrectly, as the success screen somehow goes to the correct receipt page, which then goes back to the root homepage...

[Jan]

one of 'the girlies' says that you should sort out your broken links in the top 5 products section.

Regards,

[jxm28788]

which one? they all seem to work for me...?

[Jan]

Hi John,

None of the top 5 work for me, they have /acatalog in the path.

Regards

[jxm28788]

strange. try now.

[Jan]

Still having problems (I have cleared my cache and cookies), I get

http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/low-carb-Snacks.html&NOLOGIN in the status bar and then when I click I get redirected to http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/acatalog/low-carb-Snacks.html

Regards,

[jxm28788]

the full code for the 1st line was -

"1. <A href="http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?PRODREF=55&ACTINIC_REFERRER=http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/acatalog/&NOLOGIN=1"><span class="actxsmall"> Belgian White Chocolate</span></A> <br>"

when you mentioned the problem I changed it to -

"1. <A href="http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?PRODREF=55&ACTINIC_REFERRER=http://www.lowcarbgoodies.co.uk/&NOLOGIN=1"><span class="actxsmall"> Belgian White Chocolate</span></A> <br>"

not sure what all that does (copied it from somewhere else and changed a few bits).

Does anyone know what the problem is (and why it works for me but not Jan)? Do I need that referer stuff in there?

[cdicken]

Words fine for me. Jan may have a dodgy session file stored, having visited your site when it had the 'acatalog' in the address. See my other response to you for info on removing session files.