Mark's Blog

I’m officially done with my Master’s degree in Instructional Technology. My degree posted June 2010.  It was a long haul, but it was worth it.

Date: June 6, 2009 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Hours:  4  (other 4 hours pure research)

Activities:

1. Replaced entire shopping cart theme
2. Found public domain Web 2.0 icons for category pictures
3. Found public domain Bible pictures, major score, from website with scanned pictures from late 19th/early 20th century
4. Created Terms of Service for shop
5. Created Newsletter–tested a newsletter blast to client and myself
6. Created account at MediaFire to see if attachments could be linked in newsletter to there–think it will work (have to speak with client)
7. Changed front registering module to more robust module–checks availability of username on the fly
8. Replaced shopping cart module to show customer account information and download area

New Shiny Categories

More Pleasing Item List

New List Display

Date:  June 5, 2009 from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Hours: 10

Activities:

1. Add Facebook app; tested it and had to move shopping cart of screens as it conflicted with thumbnail generated
2. Cleaned up random glitches with display
3. Met with client and showed shopping cart features
4. Explained categories, product listing, how to enable downloads, and shopping cart/Virtuemart features
5. Enabled Instant Payment Notification in client’s PayPal account–did this without having to upgrade to PayPal Pro!  NO $30 a month fee
6. First live run was failure–wrong email associated with account
7. More live runs of shopping cart with PayPal–failure as only worked 2 out of 3 times
8. Removed notify.php from administrator area and copied it to root with a link inside to administrator–folder permissions might have been messing with IPN communication
9. Success!
10. Uploaded several more lessons–client did as I did scaffolded instruction
11. Spoke about content needed to be added
12. Spoke about Google Ad words for him to put ads on Google with specific key words
13. Looked at competitor’s sites and spoke about difference in business model between his own and theirs
14. Showed client how to use PrintScreen and GIMP with smudge tool, to blur out identifying information and make directions for cart checkout–PayPal module is somewhat confusing–might need to formal tutorial on how to do this as I don’t think client will remember

Okay, I’ve got to call it a day as my eyes are hurting.

Date:  June 4, 2009 from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Hours: 10

Activities:

1. Worked on logo, and reworked changing font based on client request
2. Set up database on server
3. Uploaded Joomla and ran configuration
4. Created sections and categories based on client’s needs
5. Created dummy articles and made menus
6. Added Facebook module and removed all modules not needed by client (preinstalled as sample data–more work to do this)
7. Created extra super administrator user for client
8. Configured all settings, I think, to interact with server and client’s use
9. Called server technicians to increase PHP upload size
10. Installed custom php.ini file on server to increase size of maximum upload via the backend of Joomla
11. Installed reCaptcha extension for contact page

It's looking good

1. Uploaded Virtuemart, the online shopping cart, to take orders–didn’t work and how to manually install by placing file in a tmp directory
2. Configured Virtuemart with sample lesson plan, added categories, menu links, and installed modules and plugins
3. Tested Virtuemart with Paypal–no go as the order still must manually be confirmed
4. Tried manual confirmation and ability to download order was a success–email was sent with download instructions.  Yes!
5. Figured out Paypal must be upgraded to $30 a month Pro account to have IPN server-to-server communications; basically, have to pay if you don’t want to manually set each order to confirmed and want it done automatically like it should be for a downloadable product
6. Tested download with a $0 price tag–success.  Download was available immediately
7. Spoke with client about pay issue with PayPal and possibility of using GoogleCheckout–undecided still

Shopping Cart and Instant Download Nirvana

June 3, 2009 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Hours: 6

Activities:

1. Signed up for web hosting and pointed his DNS servers to web host
2. Spoke about business model of website:  a site to sell Sunday School lessons with the ability to pay for lessons and receive instant download (hopefully)
3. Spoke about ability to use public domain Bible pictures and turn them into coloring book activities–need to follow up and make a tutorial on how to do this for him
4. Showed off GIMP as viable method of doing number 3
5. Spoke about logo design, went to Shutterstock and purchased a Roman shield–need to take image, add name, and polish it to make it a logo
6. Showed off Vista Print for making business cards and letterheads
7. Spoke about basics of using a CMS–decided to go with Joomla
8. Found, and purchased, Joomla theme to use as a starting place to build site on
9. Created an email account with new domain name
10. Showed how to have his existing Gmail account check his new email account and send mail as that email name
11. Showed how to apply labels to mail within Gmail
12. Spoke about ability to have a newsletter–need to find Joomla extension for this
13. Created a PayPal account, to hopefully, accept funds–need to find out about IPN usage
14. Spoke about menu system and what divisions he wants–suppose to email me a list
15. Spoke about integrating forums for more user interaction—decided against it as too much moderation responsibility

To Do:

1. Make logo
2. Upload Joomla to server
3. Tweak theme
4. Customize the whole experience–basically build the site!
5. Test payment options
6. Complete Gimp tutorial for coloring book
7. Find public domain picture resources
8. Show client how to use Joomla backend–adding content and such
9. Fix bugs/problem areas
10. ????