OS Commerce and SohoLaunch

[classicsm]

Hi there...not sure if this is the correct forum.

I have some questions on these 2 features.

Once I installed SohoLaunch, there was a message that it was a 14 day trial for the shopping cart feature, and $99 after that. Is OS Commerce a trial version also?

In SohoLaunch, there's a Table of Contents feature, that adds pages to the list as you create them. Is there a free-standing feature in cPanel that does this?

OS Commerce is just the shopping cart, but Soholaunch is an entire web package??? Is that correct?

Thanks! Lisa

[Matt]

Once I installed SohoLaunch, there was a message that it was a 14 day trial for the shopping cart feature, and $99 after that. Is OS Commerce a trial version also?

First of all, to clarify, Soholaunch is a PAID software license, where OS Commerce is a free open source shopping cart system. Every licensed install of Soholaunch Pro cost someone, somewhere, about $100 USD. OS commerce is GPL and is completely free and downloadable and installable by anyone who wants it anywhere in the world simply by downloading it on the OS Commerce site, and installing it on their web site. OS commerce has no "trial," its full version software.

1. Soholaunch has two versions, Soholaunch Basic and Soholaunch Pro.
2. Pro has 5 or 6 features that basic does not have.
3. Many people don't need these and are happy with the features of Basic, and use that for the life of their site.
3. Every instance of Soholaunch that gets installed starts out as a trial.
4. It can be upgraded to Pro FOR FREE if the customer:
A) Requests the full version from us.
B) Has a site on a qualified hosting plan.
C) Those that do not meet the requirements of "B" have several other Soholaunch upgrade options, including obtaining a license from GlowHost for only $74 instead of the $99 you are referring on the soholaunch site.

In SohoLaunch, there's a Table of Contents feature, that adds pages to the list as you create them. Is there a free-standing feature in cPanel that does this?

cPanel is not a site builder, it is a website control panel, so I am not sure what you are asking. Control panels generally do not alter web pages.

OS Commerce is just the shopping cart, but Soholaunch is an entire web package??? Is that correct?

OS Commerce is a shopping cart, yes.

Soholaunch is an online website builder for people who prefer to use an online builder instead of a traditional desktop builder like Dreamweaver.

Soholaunch has its own built-in shopping cart system.

Soholaunch is easily capable of being used in tandem with another cart like OS Commerce, all you would do is link to the cart when you build your HTML pages.

More information on the two items can be found on google and each script (including the others you come across in cPanel / fantastico) have their own website and support.

Soholaunch
http://soholaunch.com/

OS Commerce
http://www.oscommerce.com/

[classicsm]

Great...that clarifies it. I've been reading community forums on the sites of several of the different features, and it's getting a bit confusing, since I'm teaching myself, and half the time, have no idea what I'm reading means I wasn't sure if you would even understand my question!

There are so many choices in cPanel of features I can install or use. It's great to have such selection, but it is overwhelming to the untrained eye. I know I'm not taking advantage of all that I could.

What I meant by the Table of Contents thing...if I made a page in my HTML editor, and built a navigation table of contents column, every time I added a page to the site, I would have to go to each page, and add that new page to the column to choose from. Looks like Soholaunch does that for you. Changes them all at once...if I'm reading that right. There may be some program that I can install from cPanel that does this but maybe not. Since I don't know what to call it, I don't know what to look for. I tried to Google it, but the results weren't near what I intended. Maybe it's just a matter of planning what pages you'll need before you start building the site, so you don't have to keep revising the navigation ???

I will post some questions on the Soholaunch forum, once I figure out how to word them so I make a modicum of sense

Thanks for the quick response! Lisa

[classicsm]

i just read your response again....so i could use OS Commerce in Soholaunch? that might work better for me. Then, if I wanted to move up to a custom site in the future, I could just install the OS Commerce inventory in the new site.

If I used the Soholaunch cart, and I upgraded to a custom site, I think I would have to re-input all of the inventory into the new cart system...rather it doesn't look like I could use the Soholaunch cart by itself, but OS Commerce I can move to any page. have i given you a headache yet?

I think I'm going to be reading all weekend!

[Matt]

What I meant by the Table of Contents thing...if I made a page in my HTML editor, and built a navigation table of contents column, every time I added a page to the site, I would have to go to each page, and add that new page to the column to choose from. Looks like Soholaunch does that for you. Changes them all at once...if I'm reading that right. There may be some program that I can install from cPanel that does this but maybe not. Since I don't know what to call it, I don't know what to look for. I tried to Google it, but the results weren't near what I intended. Maybe it's just a matter of planning what pages you'll need before you start building the site, so you don't have to keep revising the navigation ???

Yeah soholaunch does that. You can do the same thing if you make a file called menu.php (or whatever you want to call it) and then make your navigation in that one sigular file.

Then for every page on your site you just use PHP to include the file.

For example, GlowHost has one file that makes the drop down menus, and then we use php include so everytime we add a link to the dropdowns, it automatically appears on each page, instead of recoding hundreds of pages.

See the post on php include

[Matt]

i just read your response again....so i could use OS Commerce in Soholaunch? that might work better for me. Then, if I wanted to move up to a custom site in the future, I could just install the OS Commerce inventory in the new site.

If I used the Soholaunch cart, and I upgraded to a custom site, I think I would have to re-input all of the inventory into the new cart system...rather it doesn't look like I could use the Soholaunch cart by itself, but OS Commerce I can move to any page. have i given you a headache yet?

I think I'm going to be reading all weekend!

Right. If you plan on having a custom site built at some point I would choose a standalone cart and link to it from Soholaunch that way you are not locked into using the soholaunch cart.

[classicsm]

Thanks Matt!

Is there a sort of PHP for Dummies, that is more known than others for being accurate and comprehensive?

Lisa

[Matt]

If you find one, let me know...

[jmarcv]

Thanks Matt!

Is there a sort of PHP for Dummies, that is more known than others for being accurate and comprehensive?

Lisa

Good luck!!!

Heres a link to some online tutorials that are pretty good. I have found webmonkey to be a really good site for learning. This is where I cut my teeth on PHP long ago.

http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/0...tw=programming

[classicsm]

Thanks J-M...I'll check it out. Lisa