First time web master needs help.

[AmateurWebMaster]

I'm working on my family business's website, and I have hit a snag. I need to know how to inter grade the shopping cart and add some drop down menus. I need to let the customers pick which colors they want on the products. Is there anyone out there that can give me some advice?

[DoubleK]

Wow, I am by far an amateur but what you are asking is pretty vague. Depending on the method you constructed the site, there are a pretty infinite amount of possibilities to your question.

By and far if you are that much of an amateur getting into ecommerce and going it alone (or on free advice) you are in for a rough ride.

Children like to tear down discussion boards because they can Criminals exploit what you obviously are unaware of to steal.

I would ask for a professional solution. Thanks to India many web designers have taken on much more volume and automation thus lowering their fees and making their services not only safer in your circumstances but reasonable given how much education is needed.

Good Luck and Welcome To Techimo!

[sr71000]

easy doublek. No need to get mean about it.

I'm a big fan of the site htmlcodetutorial.com Do you have a page up already that we can see? Have you already built the form? Here's a tutorial on forms. If you already have a form, you can check out the "options box" on that site. That will give you a drop down box with a list of options.

As for integratings a cart, doublek is absolutely correct that you need to be careful as people very actively try to crack and exploit these types of things. Fortunately there are secure websites that will handle all the billing for you (for a small fee). My friend uses this site, though I can't really give a review he seems to like it. If you have your site hosted with a company like godaddy, they have integrated shopping carts that you can use as well (also for a few bucks a month). Good luck and feel free to come back for more advice! Look forward to seeing you around the forums!

[DoubleK]

I am terribly sorry if I came across as mean.

Any hostility was definitely meant towards the morons that deface and corrupt others hard work just because they can. Had it happen to myself and got zero help from the host as it turned out to be a cpanel exploit that they assured me wasn't the case. Kudos to the help I got free from the fine folks at sourceforge/phpbb! New host, no more problems. That and they sure locked Olympus down permission wise!

Again, my apologies!

[AmateurWebMaster]

I'm going to try to make my post a little less vague. I can't get my pictures sized right, they look awkward when I put them on the site. I can't figure out how to use the shopping cart, it's really confusing to me. I don't know what websites to use for information, and I don't know any professionals to help me out. I want to use drop down menus so people can customize their product, but have no idea even where to start. My dad is starting to get very mad at me because I told him I could do it and I think I lied...... I'm not as much of a geek as I seem, or maybe I am... someone help me. lol

btw- my website is robertsonoriginals.com--criticism very much accepted and expected

[DoubleK]

Very nice site. Did you do all the coding yourself?

I noticed that your host (powweb) offers an ecommerce solution? I know hosts say a lot but can they deliver? Is it safe? Questions better geared towards other techimo members more qualified to answer but I did some leg work for you and wanted to add to the available information to those others members so they can help you faster.

His host offers as an ecommerce solution:

ShopSite Starter Shopping Cart
Built-in OsCommerce Shopping Cart
SSL - Shared Secure Certificate
Accept Paypal Payments

For pictures I looked at a software solution like coppermine but never got around to setting it up yet. Check it out, maybe it will integrate easier than what you are attempting to do?

[sr71000]

looks like i'm a dweeb and forgot to add the links to my post above.....doh. My apologies! Here's a good link on how to build forms. If you know basic forms, then go to the site and look for an "options box"area. That'll tell you how to do the drop down open boxes. (drop down menus are something different)

htmlcodetutorial.com

as for the shopping cart, like i said I don't have any experience with it, but as i said before, my friend who is another web designer said it was really easy for him to work with when he was just starting out!

http://www.mals-e.com/

As for your images, what exactly are they doing thats screwy?

[RicheemxX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmateurWebMaster

My dad is starting to get very mad at me because I told him I could do it and I think I lied...... I'm not as much of a geek as I seem, or maybe I am... someone help me. lol

Not to sound like an A-Hole here but if you are in over your head then you really should step up and do the responsible thing and tell him that!

[sr71000]

i agree with richee here. If you're struggling, I would say telling your dad it's harder than you thought it would be but if he's willing to give you a little time, that you're working at it, and then it's his option whether he wants you to keep working or whether he wants to go to someone with a little more experience. Either way...good luck