Actinic or Erol

[jamiefsmith]

Wich is better in anyones expierience,or are they basically the same?

 

[Whistle Ink]

I'd say Actinic.

I have trialled Erol and don't like it because its in frames and the hard to edit the templates and plus everytime you click a link it says page loading and stuff like that. On top of that I had problems opening it and that and the page numbers are literally numbers I think where as Actinic they are descriptive.

I have actinic and am having fun with it! Its alot easier I find. Have you trialled these packages? I think you get 30 days free trial so its worth having a go at both.

 

[jamiefsmith]

Yes I have trialled them now. I bought actinic v7 a couoke of months ago and have found it solid on the function side, however the flexibility is nearly non existenet. I have the dw (i have developer) plugin and can edit my templates but however much i do, i never seem able to get away from the look and feel of every other actinic site out there. That is why i'm considering erol....just looking for everyones thoughts!

 

[crus]

Go custom,

you will get a better lok.

I think this is going to be a bigger and bigger issue.

The more people become aware of off-the-shelf carts at a subconcious level the more this will cause them to wuestion the size, stability, reliability of a company!

D

 

[Whistle Ink]

Its worth getting quotes for designing of templates. Most actinic specialists do overcharge.

I'm having a go myself at the moment, designing it myself and it is easy to do - but I'm no graphic / web designer. There are a few teampltes you can alter main one is Act_Primary.html. You can find out what templates you are using through actinic and there will be about 5 different versions of the main one.

The actinic recommended designers I have contacted don't know what customer service is and ones website has error pages for the plugins in they are selling! MInd you I gave up after talking to 2 of them - some might be good.

Get your developer to get the trial version on his computer - design the templates for you and the give you the template files and images etc.

 

[jamiefsmith]

O i know what i'm doing with regards to editing act_primary and act_brochure_primary etc etc, but you cannot get away from the actinic feel,that's what frustrates. As for actinic template designers overcharging, the all cost a fortune, and all look very unprofessional and scrappy, and for the money they charge it is poor. I found these http://www.prosite.co.uk/actinic/index.htm to offer reasonable good looking sites using it but as for anyomne else, forget it! I would go for a bespoke solution but we have a couple of sites and cost alone would not allow for this, so i'm back to square one!

 

[crus]

Why not bespoke one,

whats the best sites url,

then when you reap rewards bespoke the other.

thnis way you can get something that is search friendly and has some of your own features.

What kind of budget are you looking at?

Most developers have libriary code for shopping environments that they have developed inhouse.

D

 

[Whistle Ink]

Yeah prosite have done some good sites but they will charge. I'd condiser the design of the templates to be like acually creating a website rather than template design so I would expect the charge to be high for a good designer - but not extreme like some are.

If they lok unprofessional and scarppy - this isn't actinics fault. Its the designers fault and the customers for accepting that standard, and maybe your small budget for not being able to afford a good designer?

What do you mean by actini feel? as the example site on prosite don't look anything like actinic templates. Alot of it is customisable - you just need to find the right people for the job.

I would stick with actinic - build your sales up and then get a custom solution. Unless of course there is some specific feature you are looking for that off the shelf packages do not provide for?

For custom solutions I would give matrixx a call or duane from keyone.

 

[jamiefsmith]

Maybe i just need some inspiration then! Every actinic site i have seen has been of low class on the design front and unprofessional looking, maybe you could point me to some good examples of a nice site made within actinic?
I am fairly fluent with html and have designed some ok looks within actinic but nothing exceptional, to me the code is just a bit messy in places.
What I would be interested in is someone who could develop me a template or "theme" that i can apply then tweak at a later stage, but there seems to be a lack of people able/offering to do this!

 

[Whistle Ink]

Every actinic site i have seen has been of low class on the design front and unprofessional looking,

Which ones do you think are crap? PM if you want. I'm interested to know.