Frequently Asked Questions

Static Sites

These are sites that are like an online brochure. They aren't intended to change very often and they don't interact with the visitor (allow them to subscribe, or leave comments or log on), they just display information.

They would have information on different aspects of your business and some photos most likely, and your contact information so people could reach you through your site. If you were updating it with a new page or something, you would most likely call your web designer to do it because there is no editing software attached to the website. These sites are just connected web pages.

If you don't need to update your site often this is the best way to go because the pages are efficiently light and load fast.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

These are sites that are designed on a user friendly platform that makes publishing new content quick and easy. They are used by companies that regularly make updates or add new content. A good example would be a media site, but a business that adds frequent new content such as press releases and pdf downloads would also manage better with one of these systems. They are updated with a visual editor that looks much like a word processor. An online shop site is also a CMS.

Ordinarily, a website is just designed to display information on a browser. A CMS is a little bit different in that it is actually a complete piece of software in disguise. To the person browsing the site all he or she sees is the web pages. But what the person doesn't see is the second side of the website, which is a whole website administration system. The owner of the website (or anyone with the correct authentication) can log into the admin area and have a whole other series of options presented to them.

This website is actually a CMS, and if you were logged in as the administrator you would see an additional link to the left that says "Administer." If you were to click on that link you would have a whole range of options presented to you in the main page. Options such as: list content, add pages, add FAQs, delete pages, edit pages, etc. These would be the options most users would be interesting in when updating their site. The more advanced user might be interested in other options like: add new menu block, change meta tags (the way search engines index your site), install additional modules (like a shop or forum), administer permissions (who can view what content on your site), etc. On this particular system you have a very fine level of control, on other simpler systems, not so much but still enough to make changes to your own site.

The benefits of using a CMS are, of course, that you don't need to call your website designer when you want to make minor changes to your site. This is a huge benefit if your website designer charges $40 per hour and you're the sort of person who changes your mind often.

The level of know-how required to use most CMS's is not advanced. It does take a bit of time to get orientated to all the new options and what they do, but generally if you have been able to learn how to use something like a modern word processor, you should also be able to learn how to use a CMS.

All these passwords would have been sent to you. If you have forgotten any of them, please contact us. For security reasons none of them are stored on this system.

1. Domain Name Password: This is the main password connected to the Domain Name you purchased. You need this password if you ever want to change your hosting company or if you sell your Domain Name. If you're happy with your hosting service, you just need to file this away somewhere in a safe place.

2. Control Panel Password: The Cpanel is the admin area of your web site. For more info on the Cpanel please check the FAQ here on it. If your website is: www.shop.com then your Cpanel can be accessed at: www.shop.com/cpanel

From your Cpanel you can make changes to your website and add email addresses.

3. Hosting Services Password (this website): Access this area by clicking on the "Account login/Purchases" link to the top right of this screen. On this system you can see your invoices and Domain Name details (like expiry dates). The username and password for this system will also have been sent to you.

4. FTP (file transfer protocol) password: If you use FTP or some sort of Content Management System (like NVU listing in "Cool Links") you would need this. It is the same username and password as your Cpanel.

5. Email usernames and passwords: Your email username will always be "you@yoursite.com" and its password will be whatever you made it or changed it to in the Cpanel. If it was made for you by someone else they would have set a password for it when they made it. You can access your email accounts by setting them up with Outlook or other software (see email addresses FAQ's). And also on the web by going to you@yoursite.com.au/webmail

Whatever your website URL is (www.yoursite.com) add "/cpanel" to the end of it. eg. www.yoursite.com/cpanel

You should get a login screen requesting that you enter your username and password.

The username and password for accessing the Cpanel would have been sent to you, but if you've forgotten them please contact us.

From your Cpanel you can add email address (up to 10 different ones, but let us know if you need more). You can also access your site statistics to see how many visitors you are getting.

You can do many other things from the Cpanel. Once you log in you will see many icons for tasks that are immediately familiar to you and if you click on them the instructions are straight forward to follow.

In your website Control Panel you can set it up so that a new email address you've made gets redirected or Forwarded to a Bigpond or Yahoo or Gmail, etc. address:

1. Log into your website control panel (see FAQ question on the Control Panel).

2. Look for an icon in there that says Forwarders.

3. Click on the icon and fill in all the details and follow the straight forward prompts you will see.

4. Save the settings and you're done.

This is done through your website Control Panel. The steps are very simple and are outlined below:

1. Log into your website Cpanel. (See the FAQ explaining the Control Panel under "Website Admin".)

2. Click on the "Email Accounts" icon.

3. Put in the details you desire (usually 30-50 MB space is sufficient). Just fill in all the boxes with the desired details.

4. Click save.

There are 3 different ways to access your emails at your new address:

1. Over the web (See FAQ on "Webmail").

2. Configure it to work with Outlook Express or other email software (see FAQ on configuring email addresses with Outlook Express).

3. Add a forwarder/redirection to the address so it gets rerouted to an already existing address you have (see FAQ on redirecting email addresses).

After you've created a new email address for yourself in your website Control Panel (see FAQ "adding more email addresses to your account") you may want to use it with Outlook Express (or similar email client). This is convenient because your messages are delivered right to your PC when you turn it on and connect to the internet, and also you can have multiple email addresses all coming to you to the one place.

First click on File and Add New Account (might be different depending on which email software you use, but it will be something similar to this).

When you add a new email account there are a few settings that Outlook Express or similar requires:

1. Name of account: This can be anything you choose to call it.

2. Username: This will be your full email address, eg. "you@yoursite.com.au"

3. Password: Your password is required.

4. What kind of account: POP3

5. Incoming mail server: "mail.yoursite.com.au"

6. Outgoing mail server: "mail.yoursite.com.au"

Save all these settings and your account should be set up. When you open Outlook Express next time it will download your emails directly to your computer.

If you require further help setting this up, please let us know.

Note: Sometimes Outlook Express can be a real pain to use with multiple addresses and just will not cooperate no matter what you do. If you are getting frustrated trying to set it up you should try using instead one of the free alternatives such as Thunderbird.

After you've created a new email address in the Control Panel (see FAQ "Adding more email addresses to your account") you can access your email account on the web by typing "webmail" after your URL like this:

"www.yoursite.com.au/webmail"

Put in your full email address as your username (you@yoursite.com.au) and then your password. And then follow the prompts to get to your inbox.

Even if you've set up your email address to work with Outlook Express the above is useful to know. If, for example, you delete an email by accident from Outlook Express you can still retrieve it directly from the server by going to Webmail.

If you use Outlook Express (or similar program) to download your emails to your computer, then view and delete them from there, you may occasionally get a "mailbox full" warning. This is because the emails will remain on the main server where they come from even though you have deleted them from your own computer.

This is convenient if you accidentally delete an email and then need to get it back because it will still be on the main server.

Emptying your mailbox is very simple. Go to the main server over the web by going to www.yoursite.com.au/webmail and log in with your details. Your username will be your full email address (you@yoursite.com.au) and the password will be the password of that particular email address.

After you have logged in you may delete the old emails that you no longer need.

This is very straight forward but there are a few things to pay close attention to.

If you're going to be using Paypal to accept credit card purchases on your online shop then it's best you open a Business Account. Paypal will process the payments regardless of whether the buyer has an account with them or not and they only charge a nominal fee (payable by the seller not the buyer).

1. Go to Paypal's website www.paypal.com.au and click on the Sign Up button.

2. Select the Business Account option and country you live in then continue.

3. You will be presented with a list of fields you must put your information in. Most of these can be changed later if you wish but the Business Name can't be. Extra care should be taken to ensure you get your business name correct (exactly the same as the name on your cheque book or bank statement). Later when you connect a bank account to your Paypal account (so you can transfer money to it after people have purchased your products), Paypal will attempt to make two small deposits and if there is a mismatch in the business name you used and your real bank account name , the transactions will fail. If the transactions fail your account gets blacklisted and you won't be able to use it with Paypal.

They are extremely paranoid about anything that might resemble money laundering, so extra care should be taken to get the above details right.

Please read the following questions about what to do after you've set up your account.

After you've signed up a business account with Paypal you'll want to connect your business bank account to it so you can transfer money from the Paypal account to your regular bank account. This is obviously so you can get at the money.

1. Log into your newly created paypal account at their website.

2. On your My Account page there'll be a button that says Profile. If you put your mouse on it other menu items will show up, you should click on Add Bank Account.

3. Simply put in all your details and click continue. Note that you won't be able to put in your bank account name here; Paypal assumes it is the same as your business name. If it's not the same you shouldn't continue with the bank account set-up because it will fail. You should instead terminate your Paypal account and set up another one with the correct business name details.

4. In a few days check your bank statement for two small deposits made by Paypal. When you have these details return to your Paypal account and put in these amounts where indicated and it should be all confirmed.

Next step is to get your logo onto the Paypal page that your customers will see. Please read the following FAQ for how to do this.

Once you've got your Paypal account setup and your bank account confirmed with them you'll want to put your website logo onto the Paypal pages that your customers will see when they are redirected there to complete their purchase.

To do this, first log into your Paypal account at their website.

1. On your My Account page you will see a button that says Profile. Click on the word Profile (not the other items that open below it).

2. On the new page that opens under Selling Preferences click on Custom Payment Pages.

3. Click on Add and you will see a few different fields to fill in with information. You can read through and see what each is but you only really need to put in Page Style Name (no spaces in the name), and Header Image URL. The Header Image URL is the complete address of your logo. We will send you this, just email and ask. It needs to come from a secure site, which may be your own or another set up for the purpose.

4. Once you have the above two fields filled in click Save.

5. The new page should then be made primary, so check the button next to it and then click on Make Primary.

Your website logo will now appear to customers on the paypal side of the order process.

There are a few different things you will need to do with images for your online shop before you upload them to get a good presentation of your products. All the following tasks to do with images will be explained using image manipulation software called The Gimp. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Software.

Although it does hundreds of different things, you will only need to learn about three to get your pictures looking right. There are a few different reasons why I use The Gimp in all the tasks covered: It's very good, it's free and it works on many different operating systems (PC, Mac, Unix). You should download it first from the links below before continuing with the rest of these questions.

Installing on Windows: Download from http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html. Basically download it and double click on the icon to install.

Installing on Mac: Bit more involved, download from http://gimp.org/macintosh. Recommended that you watch this YouTube video tutorial on installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JePWp3qhi6M

When you upload your full sized image, your online shop software (oscommerce, virtuemart, etc.) will automatically create a smaller preview image. This preview image is called a "thumbnail." The shopper can click on it and then get the full-sized image open up. And so get a better look at it.

You tell the software what size you want the thumbnail images in the settings. And you should decide on these settings before you start uploading images. Some things to consider are how many products you will have, if you have hundreds of products you should make your thumbnail settings for smaller images so you can fit more on a page. If you have only dozens, you can make the thumbnail images bigger so they take up more space. Also consider the size of your full-sized image. If your full-sized images are all going to be of women modeling clothing they probably won't be square (500x500) in size. They will probably be greater in height than in width (600x300). So, you should also set up your thumbnails to have similar proportions (full-sized image: 600x300, thumbnail image: 200x100) (full-sized image: 500x500, thumbnail image: 150x150).

The full-sized image that you prepare for upload should be big enough so that the shopper can see the product well, and not so big that it is obtrusive on the person's computer screen. Please note the examples below, and click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized images.

Correctly setup thumbnail	Incorrectly setup thumbnail
Correctly setup thumbnail	Incorrectly setup thumbnail

Note: If you're using VirtueMart, it won't stretch or squash your images when it automatically makes thumbnails, so you don't have to worry too much about matching the proportions of your thumbnails to the proportions of your full-sized image.

How to crop or cut images with The Gimp:

So, let's just say that you're going to be selling women's dresses which will have pictures of models wearing them. So you want to have your images half as wide as they are high (300w x 600h or 350w x 700h, etc.). You've made your thumbnail settings to the same proportions (60w x 120h or similar). But the original full-sized image that you have looks something like this:

Obviously if you upload this as it is, the automatic thumbnail that gets created will look squashed. So you will want to cut off some of the empty white space to make it closer to your requirements (half as wide as it is high).

1. Right click on whatever image you're working on and open it with gimp. Then click on the crop tool which looks like a knife:

2. Then drag a box across the picture (doesn't matter what size).
3. A new box should have opened up like this:

4. The first two settings control the position of the box, and the second two control the size. The last one you don't need to worry about. So use the arrows to get the size and position of the area you will cut out right and then press Crop.

If you make a mistake, just click on the edit menu and click on undo. Close and save and it should be done.

After you've cropped the image to the correct proportions, you might still want to shrink it in size. For how to do that, please read the next question.

Not all the images that you upload need to be the same size, but they should all be the same proportions (see previous question). One image might be 350w x 700h and another might be 300w x 600h. This doesn't matter, as long as the proportions are the same (1:2 or whatever you make it) the thumbnail will be made without stretching.

If you took a picture with a new digital camera it's most likely much too big to upload. So you'll need to scale it down. You would scale it after you've cropped it (see previous question). If the image you have is too small you can't scale it up, you'll lose quality if you do. You should instead find a bigger original.

To scale images using Gimp:

1. Right click on it and open it with Gimp. When it opens it probably won't be shown at full size. Look at the bottom of the screen that your picture is in and you'll see what percentage is displaying.

2. Make it 100% so you get a good idea of the actual size.

3. Look up the top of the screen and see the pixel size of the image:

If it's more than about 700px in any one direction, you should consider scaling it down. You can go back to the previous question "The result you're going for" and click on the thumbnails there, then look up the top of the full-sized image at the dimensions to get an idea of how big 700 pixels would be.

4. So, if you want to scale it down, click on image at the top and then click on Scale Image....

A new box will open up that looks like this:

Note the chain links next to the Width and Height. If you click on this you'll see they link then unlink. Leave them linked and you'll only need to put in one dimension, either width or height, and when you click on the next box it will automatically adjust the other proportionally. If you cropped your image first (as in the previous question) you'll want to keep the proportion the same and just scale down.

5. Click on Scale then close and save and you're done.

Before you upload your new image you should confirm that the name is okay. It's best to get into the habit of not having spaces or uppercase letters in file or image names. So "Product 124.JPG" should be changed to "product-124.jpg" or similar before you upload.