Powerstore / Dreamweaver

Hi I need to build a website with an integrated online store. Currently the website is www.angelicwishes.co.uk - I used your Paypal payment buttons extension for this purpose, the store is built in Dreamweaver. This has worked reasonably well - the site is still something of a work in progress and I need to make some drastic changes. Firstly the site needs to retain its information content and also have the current static online store integrated into it with its own shopping cart rather than the Paypal cart. Also I need to hand over the site so the owner can add products easily, which at the moment is a time consuming process in Dreamweaver handled by me. To this end can I use Powerstore's core functionality but reshape it as I see fit in Dreamweaver by changing the supplied CSS and also adding in custom elements to the home page directly within Dreamweaver?

The plan is to have product on the index page along with additional information and a link to the main store based on Powerstore. I am happy to roll my sleeves up and change CSS in Dreamwever etc - but is this possible without wrecking the functionality of Powerstore. Also are the store product pages generated from a template whereby I can do likewise and change the look and styling of the templates without breaking the functionality. This way I can retain most of the look of the website (I except that the product pages will not be exactly the same but can be re-coloured close). This way I can hand over the website and let the customer add products as they see fit without me having to code everything. They also get their integrated shopping cart facility as well.

I am not after a walkthrough - just want to know if this heavy editing can be done in Dreamweaver without the whole functionality falling apart?

Many thanks, I look forward to your response in due course.

yes, this can be done with power store.

the best strategy would be to install power store to it;s own directory:
power_store

for example, this way you retain your existing index page and only need to giv a link to the store directory.

in power store, the admin panel has a design editor that lets you choose from 4 existing themes and edit those themes to change colors and fonts an such.

there is also a content management system so you can edit the content of the store pages, and a product catalog management system to allow adding new products and categories,

Thanks Jason - I have read just about all the info on PowerStore, watched most of the relevant videos and read a big chunk of this forum - it is all very informative, but I just need to be sure. So before I do go ahead and buy can you confirm one way or the other whether I can edit the entire layout of the store homepage and the product and category page layouts within Dreamweaver or am I stuck with the admin panel design system for the content pages? I am hoping that the pages are a template which I can edit directly in Dreamweaver by opening the page and accessing the CSS and adding to the pages as I see fit. Or is there a framework to the four designs that cannot be reworked? I do not want to work with the admin design panel if avoidable as I understand Dreamweaver and this will allow me to do so much more in terms of the final design and layout. Obviously the CMS system would be used to upload product and make the store function. Many thanks.

it os possible to edit the template for the designs, the templates are stored in the webassist/themes/<selected theme>/templates folder.


you are better of using the design editor for the things that can be changed in the design editor, and customizing the template files for changes the design editor is not capable of.

Great thanks Jason, much appreciated - very swift response - this support gives me greater confidence in the products.

Jason - another query - reading through the forum there have been a few questions asked about how the side menu collapses - the fact that is does not collapse down fully to just category headings seems to have been an area of frustration. There is a link in one of the recent forums: showthread.php?t=25463 that shows a PowerStore site in progress - this has a fully collapsible menu - is that now part of the functionality of the latest version, as it is a much neater solution? The category opens on clicking and then closes when clicked again. Many thanks.

i believe that is a power store 3 site.

in power store 4, top level categories will not collapse. Only subcategories that have another layer of subcategories under them will collapse.

Seems a shame - any technical reason for this? From an aesthetic point of view I think the collapsing version is much more pleasing and easy to navigate?

Ray - are you saying that this is dependent on the theme chosen at the outset and is still current in v 4.5?

theres really no technical reason, when the menu system was developed in Power Store 4, it was created so that top level categories created a heading for a new collapsible menu on the page.

Ray's earlier statement was not correct, so he deleted it.

This post has been deleted.