Is there only one version of my eShop site?

[whoknows]

I am all ready to publish my eShop site (at least around 90%) and thought i had to "publish" my site as you would normally.  Couldn'it find the "publish" button anywhere - called the Bt Techies, who told me about the Open/Close radio button under General Settings.  This then led me to ask how many versions of my eShop are there...to which the answer was one.

I thought there would be a live version which you publish and every one sees and uses plus an offline version which you can work on to make change, updates, mods, etc.  But apparently not.  If i make a change to the home page and half way through my changes I hit Save, I am told that the changes are reflected immediately on my live site  - therefore I am working on my live site!

The only way to work on the site without any changes being followed by my customers and users would be to Close the shop!  Now, in this online world I thought having a 24/7 presence was what i had bought!  But it appears not.  And seems ludicrous that you have to shut up shop to make changes to the site.

Firstly, Is this true?  There is only on version and it is live? - surely BT should have realised this is nonsense....even they had been working in the background to update their web presence recently and getting it right before they unleashed it on the world, hence teh long outage last Friday night/Saturday  - but eShop doesn't have that option!!

 Secondly, is there a work around?  I did think of having duplicate pages which are not visible, but having lots of non visible pages which are not used in the website is bad for Search Engine Optimisations -  it suggests that the site is badly constructed with lots of broken internal links - this then downgrades the site!

Help.......

[eShopTeam]

Hello,

You can create a design and not make it visible until is finish.

Design-> Template->Choose your new template->Apply

Now you can create a backup copy of the design and also not to do it visible until is ready.

Kind Regards,

[whoknows]

Sorry, your answer isn't clear.....I have a design already, if i want to make chanegs to the design or layout, how do it stop from being shown immediately on my shop?

[eShopTeam · Accepted solution]

Hello,

You need to create a backup copy. Work in the copy and when you have finish set us visible.

1. Create a back up copy

->Design->templates-> Close the pop up window.

Click on "create back up copy" in your "current visible style"

2. The copy is the last one in "additional created styles"

So now you can easly work in your copy just clicking on "start advanced design" or "start  quick design"

3. Set your copy as visible

Once you have finish with the changes you just need to set up as visible.

->Design->templates-> Close the pop up window.

Move your mouse on top of your copy and you will see the option "set visible", click on it and now this template will be shown in your shop.

Kind Regards,

[whoknows]

Thanks, now it is clear...

[Peter_G]

I'm new to BT eShop, and I'm interested in this thread, if it's OK to resurrect it.  I am a liitle confused between styles and templates and how these relate to content.  I really need some clarification.

I understand the idea of creating a copy, making the original (Version 1) visible and then working on the non-visible copy (Version 2) to make changes etc.

But what constitutes changes in this context?  If I add a new product, and make it visible, is this product only visible in the version I thought I was currently working on, or in all versions, including the 'live' version.  Experimentation suggests the latter.

If this is so, how can I  co-ordinate changes to the textual content on say, my 'home page', 'about us page' and 'terms and conditions page' if each change becomes 'live' and visible to my customers as soon as I hit the 'save' button on each page edit?

My prototype eShop is www.qgifts.co.uk

Regards

Peter_G

[Fiona]

Hi

I have spoken to the technical team you have said, If you are looking to make a change in the eShop so that when you make a change it doesn't appear on the live site until you choose. You can set the eShop to do this, if you log into the Admin section, goe into the Settings Menu, General Settings and then into Page Cache you can modify the Browser Cache settings to 'Do Not Use'. If you do this the changes made to the eShop will only appear on the live site if you come back to this section and click on Update Immediately.

I hope this helps

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business Forum Moderator

[Peter_G]

I was only able to carry out a quick test on your suggestion on Friday before I was locked out of my eShop (subject of another thread), but my initial conclusion was that the system didn't behave as you advised.  I will carry out some more thorough testing when I can get back into my eShop.

Regards

Peter_G

[Peter_G]

Fiona

Unless I have misunderstood your instructions, they don't really do what I want.

I presume when you say to set the browser cache settings to 'do not use' you mean to ensure that the check box 'Activate page cache and use .....pages' is unchecked.  Well that's fine but I can't then view my changes to ensure that thay look sensible, except by selecting 'Page cache: Activate now' after making the changes.  At this point the changes become available on the live site.

What I am trying to do is input a co-ordinated set of product changes, view them as a customer will see them, make corrections and alterations as necessary and then, and only then, make them available to the general public.  I still don't see that I can do this in eShop.

Is there a BT technical helpline that I can talk to about this?

Regards

Peter_G

[Fiona]

Hi

If you are looking to preview the shop before making the modifications live. The best way to do this is to look in the Content/Categories menu and select Preview. This will show how the eShop would appear to the customer prior to making the changes live.

If you would like to talk to someone over the phone you would need to contact the technical helpdesk, if you have broadband call 0845 6007020 and select the option for broadband technical help. If you just have Eshop then call 0845 6071942 and go through to technical help.

I hope this helps

Kind Regards

Fiona

BT Business Forum Moderator