Jump Start Web Designs
Online Store Builder’s Guide
We have pre-configured the installation of CubeCart to make the process of building and managing your new online store as simple as possible.
After you’ve completed the installation of CubeCart™, the next step is to configure your new web store to support your needs. This process is straight forward using the CubeCart™ Administration tool. We’ve pre-configured your store so you can accept the default values for many of the configuration settings.
To login to manage your new store, enter your store’s URL into your web browser and add "admin" after the URL (e.g., http://www.mydomainname.com/cubecart/admin). When prompted, enter your administrator login user name (“admin”, unless you changed it during installation) and your password.
When you first login to CubeCart you will see a warning message telling you that your main configuration file is writable and that your store is at risk. To secure this file, complete the following steps:
1) Login to the hosting Control Panel and click on the File Manger icon.
2) Browse to your store’s configuration file, “global.inc.php”, by clicking on the directory names listed below:
· Click on your main site directory (e.g., mydomainname.com),
· then, click on your web store directory, “cubecart”, unless you renamed it during installation,
· then, click on the folder “includes”.
3) You should now see your configuration file listed on the screen. To set the permissions on “global.inc.php” to “Read Only”, click on the file name and then check the "Read Only" box on the right hand property display.
4) Finally, click on the Change button to save the change.
Your configuration file is now secured.
Tip: The warning message will still appear when
you login, but the file is now secure and the permissions have been set
to read only. The message is still presented because your store is being hosted
on a Windows web server and CubeCart is checking for a Unix file permission of
0644 to be set.
No, you do not.
If you have not registered your copy of CubeCart, you’ll see a message when you login to CubeCart telling you that you are running an unlicensed version of the software. CubeCart is free as long as you do not remove or modify the company's copy right notice. So you can run an unlicensed version if you wish. However, if you want to remove the vendor’s copy right notice you will need to register your copy on their site www.cubecart.com. The fee is currently $69.95.
To configure the general information for your store, login to the CubeCart Administration tool and select the Store Config → General Settings link. A screen similar to the one below will be displayed.
Browser Title
Enter the text you want to appear in the browser title bar when shoppers visit your store.
Meta Description
Enter the description you want search engines to use for your site. Search engines (such as Google) may then use this information to generate and display a list of search results matching a given query when a user searches the web.
Meta Keywords
Enter the keywords separated by a comma to define the keyword meta-tag you want used by search engines. Search engines (such as Google) may then use this information to generate and display a list of search results matching a given query when a user searches the web.
Store/Company Name,
Enter your store or company name.
Store Address
Enter your store’s address. This information is displayed to the customer when they use check/money orders during the checkout process.
Country
Enter the country of residence for your store.
County/State/Zone
Enter the state or zone of residence for the store. This is necessary, as it is used in tax and shipping cost calculations.
After you have completed your updates, click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
Before going live with your new store, you will most likely want to enable CubeCart’s secure support to protect the transmission of sensitive data entered by shoppers. You can do this by installing a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) digital certificate and turning on secure processing within CubeCart.
SSL is a security protocol created by Netscape that has become an international standard for protecting the exchange of sensitive information on the Internet using data encryption. There are several levels of encryption available, but the most prevalent one today is 128 bit encryption.
You need SSL protection if you are selling to the public for two reasons:
1. Customers expect it. Shoppers on the Internet have become more sophisticated and are wary of potential credit card fraud and identity theft. They will look at your site and want to make sure their information will be safe if they place an order. SSL seals help provide that re-assurance.
2. As a store owner, SSL encryption protects your customer’s transaction details as they are passed back and forth between their browser and your store. You will want to help ensure that your customers’ payment and personal information is not intercepted and misused.
You can generate the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) needed to acquire a SSL certificate and install the certificate for your store through the hosting control panel.
· If you do not currently have a certificate, you will need to first install a temporary (self signed) certificate and then purchase and install a permanent (signed) certificate from a certifying authority.
· If you already have a digital certificate and the associated private key, you can install the certificate on our servers by completing these instructions.
Once you have installed a temporary or permanent certificate, you can enable CubeCart’s secure support through the Store Config → General Settings menu, by configuring the Directories & Folders settings.
Root SECURE Public HTML Folder to store
This value tells CubeCart where your secure content is stored. Enter the installation “Path” (“cubecart”, unless you changed the default) preceded and followed by a slash, e.g., “/cubecart/”.
Absolute SECURE URL
This is the secure URL customers will use when they access your web store. The Secure URL has the format https://www.domainname.com/cubecart, where www.domainname.com is the name you used for your digital certificate.
Server Secure Root Directory
Enter the absolute directory where your web store is installed on our server. This will have the format D:\hshome\FTPUserName\domain.com\path. FTPUserName is the FTP login name provided in your welcome letter, domain.com is your domain name without the “www.” and path is the “Path” used during the installation, (default is “cubecart”).
Enable SSL
Select “Yes” from the dropdown to enable SSL support.
After you have completed your updates, click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen.
Warning: This change takes effect immediately after updating. Setting the SSL values incorrectly can affect your ability to access your store. If you run into an issue, contact us at service@acomhosting.com or see our knowledge base article to recover access.
If you plan to sell digital products (E-Books, MP3s, etc.) and want to change the default download settings, you can do so under the Digital Downloads section. Click on the Store Config → General Settings menu item, and scroll down to Digital Downloads.
Download Expiry Time
This setting configures the expiration period in seconds for a customer to download a purchased product. The default Expiry time is 172800 seconds (48 hours).
Download Attempts
This setting configures the maximum number of allowed download attempts. The default maximum number of attempts is 3
After you have entered your updates, click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
You can configure the basic look-and-feel of your web store under the Styles & Misc section of the General Settings screen.
Default Language
This value sets the default language for your store. The default is English.
Store Skin
This setting configures the store Skin/Template. Set the look-and-feel of your web store by selecting the desired skin from the dropdown.
Show Latest Products on homepage
This value allows you to determine if the most recently added products are to be displayed on your stores home page. The default is, “Yes”, show the latest products.
Number of latest products to show
If you have selected to display the latest products on your homepage, then you can set the number of products to be displayed. The default is 3 products.
No Categories Per Row
This value sets the number of categories per row displayed on a store page. The default is 2.
Directory Symbol
This value sets the symbol(s) that is displayed separating categories and sub-categories when your store is viewed. For example, if you select the character, “>”, then the format will be, “>Category Name>Sub-Category Name”. The default is to use the "/" character as a separator.
No Products per Page
This value sets the number of products displayed on a store page. The default is 10 products.
Length of product précis
This value sets the length, in characters, of the product description displayed when customers click on a product category. The default is to display the first 120 characters of your product description.
No. Item in Sale Items Box
This value configures the number of products listed in the Sale Items Box. The default is 10 items.
No Items in Popular Items Box
This value configures the number of products you would like to be listed in the Popular Items Box. The default is 10 items.
After you have entered your updates click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
The e-mail settings permit you define how mail will be processed by you store.
Email Name
The e-mail address name (e.g., Sales Department) you want displayed when customers receive mail messages from your store.
Email Address
The store’s general e-mail address (e.g., sales@mystore.com) used for sending/receiving messages. This will be the destination for any e-mails sent through the website, such as through notification e-mails sent by the website as notification of order status.
Mail Sending Method
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
SMTP Host
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
SMTP Port
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
User Authentication
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
SMTP User Name
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
SMTP Password
This value has been preset for our servers and should not be modified.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
For instructions on how to create POP/SMTP mailboxes (e.g., sales@mydomainname.com) for your site hosted with us, please see instructions.
If you need to, you can change the default file upload settings for your store under the Styles & Misc section of the General Settings page by updating the Max Upload Filesize and Max Session Length settings.
Max Upload Filesize
This value configures the maximum size of a file that can be uploaded. The default is 524288 bytes.
Max Session Length
This value configures the maximum Session length in second. The default is 172800 seconds.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
The GD Settings section of the General Settings screen allows you to configure the size and quality of the images and thumbnails generated by CubeCart. GD is software code that allows CubeCart to dynamically create your store images.
GD Version
This setting allows you to modify the version of the GD software used for your store. You should leave this at the default, “2”, which is the more current version of GD.
Allow GIF Support
This setting lets you add support for GIF images. If you intend to upload your product or category images in GIF format then you should set this value to “Yes”. The default is “No”, do not provide GIF support.
Thumbnail Size
You can set the maximum size in pixels of the thumbnails generated by CubeCart for your products and categories by setting this value. The value you enter sets the maximum size for the width and height of the generated thumbnails. The default is 75 pixels.
Max Image Size
You can set the maximum size in pixels of the images generated by CubeCart for your products and categories by setting this value. The value you enter sets the maximum size for the width and height of the generated images. The default is 390 pixels (using image sizes larger than 390 pixels may affect the formatting of your store).
GD Image Quality
You can set the quality of the images CubeCart generates for your store using this value. Lower values generate smaller size images for faster downloads, but have somewhat poorer image quality. For best results, this value should be set between 60 and 80. The default is 80.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
Tip: For best results, your initial product images should have a similar size so the thumbnails and pictures CubeCart generates all have common dimensions when displayed in your store.
The Stock Settings section of the General Settings screen allows you to configure the general product inventory settings for your store.
Show stock level
This setting lets you determine if an in/out of stock message is displayed when shoppers view products. The default is “Yes”, display stock levels.
Allow out of stock purchases
This setting allows you to determine if customers can purchase products after the stock level has reached zero. The default is “No”; products cannot be purchased if out of stock.
Weight Unit
This setting lets you configure the unit of measure (Lbs or Kg) for your stock items. The default is “Lbs”.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
Tip: The stock levels for individual products are entered when you
create the product under CubeCart.
The Time & Date section of the General Settings screen allows you to modify the default format of the date and time displayed on store screens. Normally you will not need to update these settings.
Time Format
This setting allows you to set the format for how time is displayed. If you wish to modify the store default setting, you can obtain further details on configuring the time format setting at: http://us2.php.net/strftime.
Time Offset
If your store is hosted in a time zone different from your locale, you can set an offset for your store by configuring the settings. Note: our servers are hosted in the US EST zone.
Date Format
This setting allows you to set the format for how the date is displayed. If you wish to update the store defaults, you can obtain further details on configuring the date format settings at: http://us2.php.net/date.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
The Locale Settings section of the General Settings screen allows you to configure the default currency for your store, if taxes are to be included in displayed prices, and how product sales are to be handled. You can also determine if a general percentage off is to be implemented for sales and if products can be shipped to an address other than the billing address.
Default Currency
This setting allows you to set the default currency for your store. Select the desired currency from the dropdown. The default is “US Dollars”. Note: If the currency you need is not available, you can add it under Store Config → Currencies section.
Include tax in price
This setting allows you to determine if taxes are to be included in the product prices displayed to shoppers while they browse your store. The default is “No”, do not include taxes in the prices displayed to customers, taxes are instead shown as a line item when customers check out.
Sales Mode
This dropdown allows you to set how store sales are handled, i.e., “Percentage off all items”, “Individual Sales Price per item”, or “Sales mode off”. The default is “Individual Sales Price per item”.
Sale Percentage Off
This setting allows you to set a sales percentage to be discounted on all products. Note, for this setting to take affect, the Sales Mode setting must be set to “Percentage off all items”.
Allow dispatch to address other than invoice address
This setting allows you to determine if products can be shipped to an address other than the billing invoice address. This option is provided to help cut down on fraud.
After you have entered your updates, click on the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
At times, you may want to turn off access to your store, e.g., if it is under development or you are remodeling. The Offline Settings section of the General Settings screen allows you to turn on and off your store and to configure the message displayed when the store is offline.
Turn store off
This dropdown allows you to set the store on/offline. The default is “No”; do not turn the store off.
Allow administrators to view store off line
This setting lets you determine if the store can be viewed by administrators when the store is offline. The default is “Yes”.
Off line message
This setting lets you enter a message to be displayed to shoppers when your store is offline. You can create the message using a WYSIWYG editor.
After you have entered your updates to this section, click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the screen to save the changes.
Tip: If you do not see an entry area for the offline message, click on the small black triangle at the bottom left of the WYSIWYG editor to expand the area. (see image above)
Table of Contents - Personalize Your Store
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