A quick preview of the features that will be included in the first rewrite of the plugin:

*shop front highlighting newly added products (sounds familiar?)
*ajax shopping cart
*sidebar category(product) and product menus
*unlimited products
*unlimited categories
*customizable pagination for product listing
*multiple images using “greybox” technology
*template system
*paypal payment gateway utilizing Instant Payment Notification(IPN)
*customizable shipping options
*customizable tax options
*viewable orders in the admin
*integration into the existing WordPress user registration system
*single page checkout (keep your fingers crossed for this one!)

Software Development

Developing software is an important aspect of the work we do. Many software packages contain what is sometimes known as ‘bloatware’. Bloatware simply means to take a software package and fill it to overflowing with every possible option available. The problem is the package then becomes unusable or to use it takes a very steep learning curve. So to get around this we develop software.

WP Product

The plugin is a showcase for products. It’s particular use is to allow multiple users to display their products and amend without having to see any other users products.

WP Shop

Shortly to be released wpshop is a plugin to the Wordpress CMS. This shop contains many attractive features and a demo will be available to view. There are a wide variety of options to be set including a variety of currencies and taxes. The shop also has a marketing manager.

WP CRM

Now released
WP crm is a plugin to the Wordpress CMS. CRM stands for Customer Resource Manager and in its simplest form is an application that allows you to manage your customers through letters, emails and dating times of contact. It will have a very handy contact form, which when completed by a customer will store the details directly in your database for immediate management use.

Organise

Organise - order, stock, customer and accounts database is a Mac only product which I use extensively to manage my business. Take a look it is brilliant.

Serving the needs of Lostwithiel

Cregy is a web design company serving the needs of Lostwithiel. We are also keen to give back to the community. Hence the reason behind the WP Shop. We will also be developing the concept on further with the creation of crm software for Wordpress. This will give web designers and small businesses a real chance to develop an online business.

Slow Down

And if you get the chance, slow down and watch some paint dry, some snails race and just chill. If you’ve got a wife, daughter or son, go and tell them you love them.

• Abstract

  1. The stock module allows you to manage a database of clients, a database of products (shared by the store front) and send different kinds of messages to your customers. It also allows to make invoices, delivery notes, reminders, and receipts in both html as pdf format.
  2. Currently the email features are not implemented, but the framework is present so the overhead is little to actually add those features.
  3. The stock module interfaces with the product database of the Store Module but does not update the stock amounts.
  4. Additional features can be implemented on request.

• Campaigns

  1. We call promotional actions « campaigns ». Basically you select what customers will receive the mailing, what products will be on that mailing and how the mailing will look. The system will generate pdf documents that contain those mailings. It will put a maximum of 5 clients in one pdf document and will put everything in a zip file if more then one pdf is generated.

• Invoices & Delivery Notes

  1. If a customer replied to the mailing and placed an order, you can prepare an invoice. You can select all the products of the mailing or manually select those products and quantities that are required. A delivery note is also generated and added as a new page in the pdf document.

• Reminders

  1. If your customer did not reply within a suitable time, then you can generate a reminder very easily by clicking the button. The system will generate a document that will remind the customer that an invoice was sent at specified date, and for proper form, will include a duplicate of that invoice.

• Receipts

  1. After payment has been received, you can finalise the transaction and the system will generate a receipt. This receipt will also attach a copy of the invoice, with a big stamp PAID on it.

Getting started

• Configuration of the Stock Module

  1. To configure the stock module, log on as admin, then click the menu, and select Stock -> Settings.
  2. The configuration screen will show you a long list of options and many ’save’ buttons. Those buttons are there for your convenience so that you don’t need to scroll down each time if you only want to change a few things.
  3. You should note, however, that all ’save’ buttons save the entire page, and will also force validation of the entire page.

• Campaign Settings

  1. These settings allow you to tweak the generated pdf document. Note that the page format is A4 and cannot be changed.

PDF Prolog

This text will appear on the first page of the mailing. You may use the following codes:

• %name% Will be changed in the customer’s name
• %firstname% For the customer’s first name

PDF Margin Top

Set the top margin of the mailing. The unit is points (pts)

PDF Margin Bottom

Set the bottom margin of the mailing (points)
WARNING: if you use to big values for top, and bottom margin, then the system will get stuck in an endless loop while trying to make sure that everything is on the pages (header, contents, footer).

PDF Print Header

If you are using stationary, then you are better of replying ‘no’ here so that the system will not print out the store address.

PDF Print Customer Address

You may choose to not print the customer’s address on each page because you are using a template that already prints those details.

Download the application and install via www.yoururl.co.uk/installer.php. The password for the installer should be brown all lower caps but is not working at the moment. The application was built to work with php 4 but I need it to work with php 5.2+ and obviously I need the installer to work. I also need for you to prepare a list of changes you would suggest.

The project has these specific goals:
1. CMS
2. With online shop
3. With stock control
4. With invoice management (for customers and suppliers)
5. With reporting on amounts paid and amounts owing and weekly, monthly, annually totals (spent compared to income)
6. With sales and contact management.

Your role should be to:
1. Make the current version work with php 5.2
2. Suggest style changes to make the application more accessible
3. Cost up and make proposals for the above.

Once completed I intend to open source the project and put up on Sourceforge and build its own website. Links to you will be made available as chief developer and could result in further adoption work.

I need price and timescale for no. 1 initially and then 2 and 3.

Many thanks.

Online Payment providers
http://www.electronic-payments.co.uk

Credit cards – www.worldpay.com , www.protx.com , Major Banks
Online Payment Facilities www.paypal.com , www.nochex.co.uk
Online auctions – www.ebay.co.uk

Accessibility
Getting Started: Making a Web Site Accessible
http://www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/

RNIB Web accessibility at a glance
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_webaccesscentre.hcsp

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
W3C Recommendation 5-May-1999
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
W3C Working Draft 11 March 2004
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/WD-WCAG20-20040311/

Test your site:
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

Legal Information
Distance Selling Regulations http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/consultpdf/distselcon04.pdf
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2000/20002334.htm
UK Electronic Communication Act (2000) www.uk-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts.htm
Data Protection Act www.dataprotection.gov.uk
Comparative Marketing Directive www.marketinglaw.co.uk/open.asp?A=173
www.dti.gov.uk/cii/ecommerce
www.eversheds80.com

Marketing your web site : Links There are many web sites which offer helpful information and tools to help you to build and maintain a web site. The majority of the links below are free and offer a starting point for the marketing of your web site. See how many searches are being made for various keywords or phrases.
www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml
www.wordtracker.com
www.google.co.uk – visit ad-centre and select keyword tool
Establish which search engines to submit you web site to.

http://dmoz.org/add.html - an open directory which is free to submit to and also provides data to some of the leading search engines and directories.
www.altavista.co.uk – Basic submit is free
www.google.co.uk – basic submit through dmoz is free
www.hotbot.co.uk – visit http://www.hotbot.lycos.co.uk/submit.html
www.aol.co.uk – submission through Open Directory
http://submit.looksmart.co.uk/submit_homepage.asp?isp=yah – looksmart engine
www.netscape.co.uk
www.freeserve.co.uk
www.inktomi.com
There are a number of search engines available on the internet. These are only a small section of those available.
Search for directories and web sites that may be suitable for listing your business, eg. Try ‘Cornwall Directory UK’ in google to find relevant sources
Many sites offer reciprocal links, you could add a links page to your web site and offer reciprocal links – the more sites linking to you the more popular you are seen as by the search engines.
Generate business through links from Supplier web sites. Many manufacturers have list of retailers on their sites, or if you manufacture – list your retailers. Use the internet as a resource for learning, there are many online guides to building web sites and marketing your business online.
http://www.htmlhelp.com/ - code and articles on HTML programming
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html - tips on building web sites
http://www.ukonlineforbusiness.co.uk
http://www.seoposition.com - tools to help optimise your web site for improved search engine listings
http://www.isitebuild.com/articles - articles on designing and building a web site including search engine ‘optimisation’.
www.clickz.com – marketing online – a guide to email marketing
www.searchenginewatch.com – search engine information
www.echoecho.com – keyword listings
www.overture.com – keyword searching
www.didit.com – search engine registrations
www.knowthis.com – General and Internet marketing site
www.bidbuddy.co.uk/images/ukser.jpg - how search engine results are passed around
www.searchengines.com – free guides to understanding the search sector
www.roxy.neutralize.com – tools to help you check your listings in search engines
www.sempo.org the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organisation
www.semlist.com marketing service buyers guide
http://sherpastore.com/store/page.cfm/1759

Directories Below is a list of directories, most found within Google.co.uk under cornwall directory uk.

I tend to recommend to initially go for the free links where available, and then to review whether they are working for you before you pay.
(statistics for your web site should be available through your hosting, these tell you your number of visitors, where they came from, where they went on your site, and lots of other interesting and vital information to help you market your site effectively)

www.north-cornwall.co.uk
www.cornwall-homepage.co.uk
www.cornwall.health-club.net/
www.cornwall-pages.co.uk/
www.chycor.co.uk
www.celticcornwall.com
www.cornwall-devon.com
www.go-cornwall.com
www.beautiful-cornwall.co.uk
www.uk-westcountry.co.uk
www.cornwallsearch.com
www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk
www.artsroundcornwall.com
www.cornwall-calling.co.uk
www.ecornwall.com
www.falmouthtown.co.uk
www.netpz.co.uk
www.southernuk.com/
www.thisiscornwall.co.uk
www.cornwall-search.co.uk
www.cornish-links.co.uk
www.connexions.co.uk
www.cornwall-online.co.uk
www.cornwall.gov.uk/
www.cornwall-calling.co.uk
www.cornwallcam.co.uk
www.cornwall.net
www.cornwalltouristboard.co.uk
www.cornishlight.co.uk
www.cornwall-info.co.uk/
www.destination-cornwall.co.uk/
www.art-cornwall.co.uk/
www.cornishman.com
www.cornwallpictures.co.uk
www.gardensincornwall.co.uk
www.1-all.co.uk/
www.shimbo.co.uk/
http://www.st-ives.uk.com/
www.eatoutcornwall.com

For all those interested it is nearly here. I have been playing with the admin backend and it works great. Not long to go.

Hi

Just to let you all know. I am still trying to employ a developer that will finish the development of the shop and then start on the next stage. It seems that the coding needs a lot of sorting out and maybe some trimming.

The current issues with the coding:

1. Works with 2.1.2
2. Safe urls
3. Pages not being displayed on the front end
4. Remove links and all items pertaining to shipping tokens, vouchers, reviews and ratings, tools, help.
5. Make Paypal work as a payment gateway
6. In the product list, remove sort date, apply special rules, fields.
7. Get the description fields to work correctly. Short description should be a simple teaser. Long description should provide more space.
8. Shipping should have two fields applied to it. Inland for all local delivers, overseas shipping for all long deliveries. How these apply can be varied from country to country. i.e. In England, inland would apply, whilst overseas might be the eu only!
9. Customer details need to be recorded along with items they have bought.
10. Orders need to be split into outstanding, paid not sent, sent, etc.

Suffice to say much work needs to be done. I need a developer who can do it. Is there anyone you can recommend. I am speaking to one or two at the moment but it would be an idea to see who else might like to be involved.

Many thanks for your patience.

Rich

This is the first part of creating a software for small businesses.

The WP Shop originally created at the start of this year has seen a full rewrite and should be available for a re-release on 18th October. The shop plugin will be a full ecommerce product with a link to Paypal. However, development will take place to include other payment providers.

The shop features:
Runs in Wordpress 2.0.x (possibly working on it running in 1.5)
Paypal payment Gateway (with development for others planned)
Three ways to present stock
Add options (e.g. Black cap, white cap, green cap)
Link relevant products together
Create as many images as required

Future work:
Prepare plug-in for other payment gateways.
Namespace and incompatibility tests with other than the default plugins of Wordpress 2.0.4 (akismet, dbbackup and hello dolly)
Include shop urls in url-rewrite procedure.
Preparing a wordpress release of the shop as a package.
Extend the plugin to store customer details.
Extend the plugin to include the facility to send mailouts.
Extend the plugin to encompass stock control.
Extend the plugin to encompass customer/supplier billing and contact details etc.

Ok the developer has also written some instructions!

Activate plugin
configure payment
click gateway, activate paypal payment modul
click “configure”
email: shop owner email, probably the same as the blog owner
operating mode: If you haven’t set up paypal yet, test first in the internal sandbox. To use a paypal sandbox, you’ll have to set up a paypal sandbox account (which has nothing to do with your real account). Once you’re ready, use the “normal” mode
in order to get a PDT(payment data transfer) token you have to
register at paypal.com
upgrade your account to premier or business account (note the differences in charges; decide on the turnover you expect)
click on “profile”
click on “website payment preferences”
your first option is auto return. Turn it on, and add the link to your return page (find it on the paypal configuration page, or in your blog frontend, it’s titled “thank you for your purchase”)
your second option is pdt. Switch to “on”
submit the page
your pdt token will be displayed as a long string of letters and numbers.
Copy this token, and paste it into the configuration
To set up the IPN link
Copy the IPN link from the configuration page
On the paypal “profile” page, click on “Instant Payment Notification Preferences”
Click edit
Tick the checkbox
Paste the link
Submit
Logout paypal, if you want
Submit paypal configuration page on your site
Add categories
Click on categories
Click on “create new category”
The form field on the left will now be editable
For categories in the first level, just enter the name and a brief description, leave the parent select box as it is. You’ll have to do this for your first category
Click save
Add more categories, if you like. If they are subcategories, select the parent (the main category) from the dropdown list
Add products
Click on products
Select “create new”
Add all the information (this needs some more explaining…)
If you want to add a picture
Take your ftp client to the folder where you installed wordpress. You should see folders such as wp-content or wp-includes
Create a folder called wp-images (all lowercase)
Go in there, and create a folder called wpshop (no hyphen, all lowercase)
Make this folder writeable for everyone (chmod 777)
Configure your shop
Go to settings
The minimum you have to do is to open your shop
Select “options”
Change “shop open” to yes
Enter a shop title
Enter a shop email address
Select your country and currency of trade
Select a currency format
Select a date format
Alter more options, if you like
Press “save”
Set general Settings
Set “show prices” to yes
Set “show buy button” to yes
Alter more options, if you like
There are more options which you can alter by selecing them from the dropdown box
You’re ready to go!

After building WP Shop I realised that this whole venture could grow and hence the title “Small Business Software”.

Take a look at the roadmap but suffice to say that I run a small business and also build websites for small businesses so I am hoping that this plugin will help my small business and benefit others. I am also hoping that the plugin will enable developers to offer more than just websites!

Over to you. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for further implemetations? Comment and suggest please.

The Roadmap
Must haves:
- get WPShop running stable in Wordpress 2.0.x (I’m currently running 2.0.4, and have problems with the installation)
- enable Paypal payment Gateway

Nice to haves:
- WPShop running stable in Wordpress 1.5.x (not tested yet)
- debugging of existing, non-critial bugs
- Reduce number of generated pages

Demarcation criteria (do you know a better word? This is “stuff not to be done right now”)
- prepare plug-in for other payment gateways.
- namespace and incompatibility tests with other than the default plugins of

Wordpress 2.0.4 (akismet, dbbackup and hello dolly)
- include shop urls in url-rewrite procedure (we haven’t talked about this yet, but I’d be very interested to do this. Helps search rankings and makes
urls more readable)
- preparing a wordpress release of the shop as a package.
- Extend the plugin to store customer details.
- Extend the plugin to include the facility to send mailouts.
- Extend the plugin to encompass stock control.
- Extend the plugin to encompass customer/supplier billing and contact details etc.