Finally.... Back to the Beginning
I have a confession to make. Sometimes I can be a real idiot. I know you may have been thinking it already but why would I say this about myself? How many evenings have I wasted trying to get my ASPDOTNETStorefront demo running just so I could evaluate it? Why would I do this? Sometimes I wonder about myself. Here's the scoop. I finally reached my limit. I had tried everything; my trial version clock was ticking so I asked my husband for help. He is not a web guy but he is a database and programming kind of guy and can usually figure anything out and .... he's always right... did I really say that? So, seeing the look of desperation on my face, he volunteered to help me Friday night. The first thing he found... the hosting company hadn't granted me ownership of my database. Oops. Mini celebration! And I thought it was something I had done...:-) It was a short celebration as nothing he tried (with me watching over his shoulder) would work. He worked and worked and tried things but to no avail (sorry Scott). Monday I sent an email to ASPDOTNETStorefront asking for assistance. Scott and I had downloaded, uploaded, run a query, edited files, added demo keys and database connection info, still nothing. I got a quick response letting me know that they would install my software onto my host, for a fee of course. The fee was negligible, I was elated. But, he says, if you are going to pay us to install it for you, it would make more sense to install the software itself if you are ready to purchase. After all, it has a 30 day money back guarantee and 30 days free support. Why didn't I ask this earlier! All those evenings wasted! Maybe not, I learned a lot stumbling through that. I just have to deal with the fact that I wasn't able to get it done.... but $50??? BIG celebration! I watched TV with my husband for the first time in many weeks Monday night while smirking that I was paying someone else to do my software installation. Now, my software is installed. Is it everything I had hoped it would be? I've only had one evening to stare in awe at it but so far, I'm in love. I can see that it will allow me to customize to my hearts content. Now I just have to figure out how to do that..:-) By the end of the evening, I had recovered from my elation of having my software installed and the depth of the situation was setting in. I have TONS of work to do. Once again, I'm at the very beginning. I am moving forward with the intent of keeping this software.... and purchasing the support plan...:-) There will be a pretty big learning curve for me since I have no education on the subject but I'm confident I can figure things out as I stumble through it with a few books on the subject. And if not? Well, that's why I am going to purchase the support plan. I know, support folks everywhere just felt the little hairs on the back of their necks stand up..:-) So, this coming week I will be loading products, manufacturers and creating categories once again... I can't wait! I also have to figure out how to configure my page layout... the skin. Carol tells me she wants an intro page with little dancing balls of yarn...:-) Oh... yippee.... help.... anyone out there have a way out of that request??? :-)
