eCommerce Tools and Custom Programming Solutions
I was signing up for a new YouTube account to support a forthcoming video/blog project (we’ll have announcements about it soon) when I stumbled on the following page in Google’s YouTube support pages:
I was interested in learning more about desired video formats and, in particular HD video formats. So, I clicked on the video at right labelled “How to make HD videos for YouTube” only to be greeted by the following message in the video:
I’ve had a number of customers who’ve moved from one Google Apps account to another recently and thought I’d write down the steps on how to do this for use by others in the same situation. This seems to happen regularly with startups who change their business model (along with their domain name) mid-stream.
Some people just might add the new domain name to their existing Google Apps account but this means they can’t send AS the new domain unless they set up “Send Mail As” and set the new account as their default, but more importantly, the other elements of their Google Apps suite (like docs, calendar, etc) will be in the old domain.
So, once you have accounts in both domains you will go into your OLD account and set up forwarding. This is done by going into the “Settings” section of your 
website and selecting the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
In case some of you have wondered, I haven’t been talking much about photography lately in my blog. Even though I’ve been heads down in programming lately, I’ve still been trying to keep up to date with my photo-instructional surfing. With great blogs like Strobist combined with Google Reader, this is fairly easy.
The Strobist blog has a great analysis of how this Florida-based photographer got this one-shot family portrait in without losing his hair. Check out the Night Shuttle blog entry at Strobist for the details.
I’m not sure if you knew this or not, but AspDotNetStorefront ML and ML/Express both use different default templates in the skin directory.
Recently, a new file has begun showing up in the shipping SKIN_1 folder called expressTemplate.ascx. I had kind of assumed that this file was a bare bones template, much like the standard “bare” skin that comes with many blog packages. And if you’ve been working with standard ML software like I have for years, you just automatically start modifying template.ascx to skin your sites. Well, we quickly found out this was wrong and it isn’t documented in the ASPDNSF manual either (at least not now).
As it turns out, you need to use the expressTemplate.asc as your base template in a skin when using ML/Express and Template.ascx as the base template in a skin when using any of the other ML products.
I can only assume the One of the nice things is that many of the other template “features” are still available in ML/Express.
Our favorite is the HomeTemplate AppConfig that allows you to define a separate template to use on the site’s home page (default.aspx). As you can see in the example above, we are using expressTemplate.home.ascx for this purpose. We just set the value of the HomeTemplate AppConfig to be the name of the home page template and it all works fine.
Another template feature that we tested under ML/Express is template switching. While I’m not sure that you are SUPPOSED to use this feature, it works. In order to turn on template switching, you’ll need to go to the Configuration | Advanced | Run SQL menu option in the admin. Then you can run the following SQL command to turn this feature on: UPDATE AppConfig SET ConfigValue=’true’ WHERE Name=’TemplateSwitching.Enabled’
This allows you to define different templates for different physical pages on the site. Let’s say you want to have your product display pages use a different template than the rest of the site, you would add a new AppConfig called templateshowproduct.aspx with a value of the full template name (like expressTemplate.Products.ascx).
The reason why I’m not sure you are supposed to use this in ML/Express is that it has been hidden from view. You won’t find it in the normal AppConfig variables by searching for it but it does exist and it does work.
So don’t forget, if you are using AspDotNetStorefront ML/Express version, plan on using expressTemplate.ascx as your base template for your skin rather than the template.ascx file as this is hard-coded into the compiled project.
Thoughts about this post? Please use our comments section below. If you are a comment spammer looking to get “link love” back to your site with some inane comment, don’t bother as the comments are moderate to week people like you out!
Google has recently released announced a Google Store Gadget that relies on Google Spreadsheets as the database in an attempt to make it easier for people to set up electronic shop on the world wide web with little effort and no cost (assuming you have SOME sort of presence on the ‘Net). While this is definitely cheaper and somewhat easier to implement than most ecommerce solutions, it is not as easy as some anticipated it would (or could) be.
However, it is a great example of something they’ve been telling programmers for some time: use Google Spreadsheets as datasources. This example uses an engine (spreadsheets) that most computer users are familiar with to replace complicated databases for a rather simple solution.
After playing with it a bit I figured why not create a 3 step guide (more or less) to set this up.
That’s all there is to it! It took me 5 minutes to set up the following store: http://exhibita.com/shopping-cart.aspx. It took me a lot longer to write this up than to actually do it! If your needs are simple but you’d like to categorize your solutions better, you can create multiple pages that link to multiple spreadsheets (or potentially pages within a single spreadsheet) and just place the appropriate code on each page. The nice thing is that products placed into a cart on one page will follow you around to all the other pages just like in a real shopping cart.
Of course this isn’t a proper replacement for a full-fledged ecommerce solution like AspDotNetStorefront but it certiainly will help a lot of people to integrate fairly single shopping carts into their blogs and websites.
Running into problems? Try the Google Checkout store gadget forum
We’d love to hear from you if you’ve implemented a Google Checkout Gadget; use the comments below to contribute to the ongoing conversation.
TechCrunch spun a comment to a posting about AT&T… I mean Apple pulling Google Voice applications off the iPhone store. Whoever ‘JÂ’ is an extremely whitty guy. Come to think of it, this speech could be spun in any number of different ways’…
This is, without a doubt, the best comment ever on TechCrunch. Left by ‘JÂ’ on MG’s latest iPhone rant about the Google Voice debacle. Beautiful.
AT&T: You want answers?
TechCrunch: We think we’re entitled to them.
AT&T: You want answers?!
TechCrunch: We want Google Voice on our iPhones.
AT&T: You can’t handle the iPhone with Google Voice!
Son, we operate on network that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by carriers with restrictions. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Verizon Wireless? We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Google Voice and you curse AT&T. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: That pulling Google Voice, while tragic, probably saved the network. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves the network.
You don’t want the Google Voice on your iPhone. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at TechCrunch50, you want us protecting the network. You need us protecting that network. We use words like rate limiting, application approval and restrictionsÂ…we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.
We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a blog who writes and profits under the blanket of the very network that we provide, then questions the manner in which we provide it. We’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up a router and build your own network. Either way, We don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to.
TechCrunch: Did you order Google Voice taken down?
AT&T: We did the job you sent us to do.
TechCrunch: Did you order Google Voice taken down?
AT&T: You’re goddamn right we did.
Ok, forgive me but it is time for a little rant here…
SEO SPAM (aka comment spam) is getting out of hand these days. Previously, it was only the SEO contest people that I had to worry about but now I’m seeing a dozen or more requests per day (it is growing rapidly) to moderate trash comments like “I hope you will continue your work. I want a blogengie blog as well. Try to implement it” or “half-blood prince is awesome” or “Deals on xxxxx at http://domain.com” or “A good information that could answer all my needs. Thanks for sharing.”
Not only is this very annoying to have to deal with but it is also kind of insulting to my intelligence. I mean do these people think that I’m stupid enough to not spot the trend of what they are doing? At least some are honest about it (see the Great Deals above) while others use names like Sue Dental to link back to their Dental Review sites or Harry Potter Movie that links to their Harry Potter Movie Reviews website.
And then there are those who chose to make generic “I’m doing something like this, You information has proven most helpful” on a “Welcome to our Blog” posting. Sheesh…
Now don’t get me wrong. I truly feel that marketing through social network sites, forums and blogs is a good idea but ONLY if you are truly able to add something to the ongoing conversation and/or community. Don’t just hire a bunch of people in some third-world nation to type inane comments into as many blogs as possible in the hopes that a few of them will go through. This is truly the same thing as what SPAM has effectively done to email. It has all but ruined it’s use as a productivity tool.
Someone recently said that as soon as something good comes along, lazy marketers and sleezy SEO slags (as opposed to those offering a legitimate SEO services) will ruin it by flooding it with inappropriate advertising.
Ok, I feel better now. But SEO SPAMmers beware, I’m onto you and will do what I can across the dozens of blogs that I manage to keep you at bay! Your first clue should be that I’m moderating my comments. And if your posts don’t end up getting approved, you can be assured it has been dumped into the bit bucket.
Any one have any LEGITIMATE comments to contribute to the conversation? Please do so below…
