www.HighDesertVideo.com

Hello All,

I had posted this notice about a month ago in a different category but since we now have the Showcase category, I've duplicated it here. After a couple of weeks of very long days and much help from Nicolas, www.HighDesertVideo.com is now online using HikaShop as the store module. (DVD Catalog Menu) This site has been up for several years, but always linked to a separate ZenCart site for the shop section. When I came across HikaShop a few weeks ago, I thought I'd give it a try and so far, I've been very happy with the product and particularly happy with the support provided by Nicolas.

The site isn't unique or even creative in any respect. Just a basic RocketTheme template with a few RocketTheme modules. Other than the RT modules, HikaShop Business, JComments and ContactEnhanced are about all I remember using.

The DVD Catalog menu (main shop page) is Hikashop Product Listing (Div Format).
The Latest Videos menu displays a HikaShop module (Div Format). The ability to place a module in a menu is a feature of the RocketTheme template.
The DVD Categories module is a HikaShop category list (List Format).
Clicking a category calls up a HikaShop product list (Div Format) Attached to a hidden menu item.

A few language file, view file and CSS modifications were made and that's all there is to it.
I did use one hack that Nicolas gave me to prevent attachment of variant names to the product name on the detail page because of some incompatibility with my RT template. Characteristic/Variant does display in the shopping cart though.

I hope others will post links to their shops when they are ready to go live. I'm not 100% sure mine is actually READY, but it's close enough. I've got a few weeks before our race season starts so hopefully that will give me time to have a few regular customers test it out. I also plan to make some changes to the email notification text.

If anyone finds a problem or has suggestions for improvement, please let me know. (Feel free to order a DVD if you see something you like!

Regards,
Ed

PS - Thanks again Nicolas, for all the help!

Looks great Ed!

I have been trying to do something similar with the layout, and to no avail

Are you using content top a for the list menu? Content top b for the categories?

Cheers

Bugger101 wrote:

Looks great Ed!

I have been trying to do something similar with the layout, and to no avail

Are you using content top a for the list menu? Content top b for the categories?

Cheers

Thanks for the positive feedback!

The only thing I have in Content Top A is the Breadcrumbs module. The DVD Categories list on the left side is a Hikashop module located in Sidebar A as is the Hikashop Cart module.

The main menu item DVD Catalog is a Hikashop Product Listing and the one you thought was in Content Top B is a Hikashop Category Listing, attached to a hidden menu with only one item called Products by Category (see breadcrumb).

I hope that cleared things up, but if not, I'll be happy to answer any other questions you have. I know it can get a little confusing. It took me a while to get the layout like I wanted it.

Ed

Ed; Looks great. Clean and professional. I know nothing about the topic, so it is clear to me that you are focused on a niche audience. Only reason I would have to look at the site is if I were buying a gift for someone and I'd be lost. Maybe add a tag ling under site name as to what your site is about and maybe a menu item for gift ideas...Maybe it is not a fit for this audience, but only improvement I could identify. Good luck. Thanks for posting. R

Thanks for the suggestions R. You are correct, my site targets a very narrow and specific audience, primarily within a 100 mile radius of my location. In fact, most of my sales are not even processed through the website, but face-to-face transactions. I use it more to notify my customers that new videos are ready and for the occasional out-of-town buyers.

I build a lot of websites for other businesses so it just wasn't right that I didn't have one of my own.

Thanks again and I'll consider your gift suggestion!

Ed

Hey Ed,

Thanks for your help I tried to replicate your advice last night, and found that putting the menu in sidebar A makes it end up in sidebar B....

Would I be able to email you via your website about some paid work?

Thanks

You can certainly send a note through my website, but if you just need some help getting a layout similar to mine, I doubt that would require a fee. Send me a link to the site you're having problems with and I'd be happy to take a look. I build a lot of websites, but the one showcased here is my first using Hikashop.

Ed

Wow, thanks - that is very generous of you!

No problem. I received your email and will take a look at the site just as soon as I finish this fight with my printer.

Ed

Awesome, thanks again - you tell the printer who is boss!

After 5 years, I thought it was time to give www.HighDesertVideo.com a face lift and upgrade to J3.4.8.

Still nothing fancy on the site but I have to say that Hikashop has been working well the whole time. I was running Hikashop 1.5.6 Commercial, but downgraded that to v2.6.1 Starter with the Joomla upgrade to v3.4.8. I'll likely go back to the latest Commercial version once I get caught up on some other projects, even though the starter version seems to be suitable for this site.

Thanks to the Hikashop crew for producing such a great product!

Ed