Getting Started with your new Inventory Store Admin Menu.

 What is a “store admin” or “admin menu”?

There are two main sites of your store:

1-   The “front-end”: what the customer sees when they go to your web address url (www.yourstore.com)

2-   The “back-end” or “Admin”:  where you go to run your store and control your settings.  For your new site the admin will be (www.yourstore.com/admin/)

 This guide will walk you through a few basic steps of your store admin.

 What is the “authsafe” in my web URL?

Your welcome email will show your URL with  http://yourstore.authsafe.com/ and http://yourstore.authsafe.com/admin/.

The “authsafe” is called a subdomain.  If and existing site at this URL, this will allow you to work on your new site before you remove the “authsafe” from the name.  If you are ready to remove the subdomain and have experience with these changes and FTP, then it is control by your includes/config PHP file.  If words like “FTP”, “config”, and “PHP” seem scary and technical, then DO NOT WORRY J  Just email and we will help you with this simple step.  This can all be done much later, but we wanted to explain why you see the subdomain in your access email.

I just want to get started setting up my brand new Inventory Store!!!!

LOGIN

From your Welcome Access documentation please find the section “Store Administration Menu Access”

1- Enter the admin URL http://yourstore.authsafe.com/admin/. The “yourstore” will of course use YOUR store name stated in the Welcome Access email ;-)  The admin menu should work in multiple browsers, but Internet Explorer tends to work best for most users.

2- You now are at the Admin Menu Login Panel of your store. Enter the Username and Password as written in the access document (You can copy paste to avoid typos.).  Click the Confirm button.

 
NOTE: The first time you log into your store you will be taken to an Admin Account page.  Click the “edit” button at the bottom.  In the right side box enter your Admin password again and click the “confirm” button.  This will let you change the Admin name, User ID, and Password.  If you want to change these details use a VALID email address.  The forgotten password option will send the password to this address, so make sure you have access to this email account.  You can change this ID at any time by using the Administrator menu and “Update Account” from the Administrator dropdown.  If you want to skip this step for now, just click the “Admin Home” button at the top left of your site.

GET STARTED

You are now in your store.  There are the 4 main sections:

1-   The top right “Admin Home” button (returns you to the main page of the Admin) and the “View Site” button (lets you view the main page of your store’s front-end)

2-   Top “Drop Down” menu

3-   Quick Setup Process

4-   Main Admin Menu Dashboard

 
Start with the Quick Setup Process and click on Step 1 Design Wiz.  The first step in the Wiz lets you use the editor to add the text that appears on your main page.  You can delete the text and image that appears in this section.  Use the HTML Editor, just like in a Word Doc or email to change the font, color, text size, etc.  A brief introduction of this Editor is found to the left of the small pop up window.  When you are done click the save and continue button at the bottom of the box.  You can access any of the steps in the quick setup process by clicking the large “Admin Home” button at the top of the site.

 
Section 2 of the Design Wiz will next let you pick your template.  The Available Templates drop down menu will show you the 23 included template options.  (You can load other CRE Loaded templates at any time.)  Use the drop down menu to see the small sample image of the template.  When you find the one you lick click the save and continue button.

 
Section 3 of the Design Wiz will let you upload your logo to the header of the templates.  Use the browse option to upload your logo to the header.  You can replace your logo by coming back to this step in the Design Wiz 1 at any time.  The whole logo file will load, so make sure your logo file is of an appropriate size.  If it looks to tall or long when you view your site reduce the file size with your image program until it fits with your template.   Congratulations you now have the basic design of your store applied. 

 
You can now use Step 2 Details Wiz.  This is where you enter your store information.  Each of the 6 fields in this step has instructions on the right of the field box to explain what is needed.

 
Step 3 is the Payment Wiz.  This is where you control your payment settings from Checks or Cards to Paypal.  The instructions for these options are found at the top of this Payment Wiz.  By default we have turned on a generic Credit Card and E-Check options.  You will see a 0 in the “Sort Order” column for the activated options.  If you want to turn off the default options:

1-   Click the payment option row.

2-   The red box on the right will give you a “remove” and “edit” option.

3-   Click the “remove” option.  It does not delete this option.  It just turns it off, and prevents the options from being used by your clients.

 
To turn on a payment option, for example if your card provider uses Authorize.Net or Quick Commerce Pro (Ask your merchant account provider which module they use for osCommerce CRE Loaded sites.  If you need a merchant account which works seamlessly with this store, just contact and we will have you setup with a merchant account) then do the following.

1-   Click the payment option row that your merchant account uses.

2-   The red box on the right will show an “install” button.

3-   Click the “install” button and the payment method will be turned on for your site.

4-   You can then use the “edit” button to enter the required options.  There is also a “[Setup Help]” link in the red box which will give you more details for this section.

5-   When you have entered your information use the “update” button at the bottom of this box. Use the “Admin Home” Button at the top of the site when you are done and ready for the next Wiz.

 
Step 4 is the Shipping Wiz.  Your Inventory Store comes with several shipping options.  We recommend that you use the UPS option as it is weight based and it is the simplest option to setup with your store.  Just like the changes you made in Step 3 you will select the option that you want.  UPS is already activated for you.  Click on the UPS row and use the edit button.  You do not need to change any of the options in the red box other then the UPS Shipping Methods at the bottom.  You can use 2DA (2 day air) or GND (ground) or any other method by checking the box.  When you are done click “update” and proceed to Step 5.

 
Step 5 is the Tax Setting Wiz.   Just follow the simple instructions at the top of this Wiz.  The first step is your Tax Zone. On this page, you can use the "Insert" button to create a new zone, or use the "Edit" button to change one that is already there.  The “zone” is just the name of your state and the description is for your own use.  Click the “Tax Rate Page” link in the instructions of this Wiz when you are done.  This page will let you enter in your state sales tax.  It will charge the tax when a customer is purchasing the products from your state.

 
Your site now has EVRYTHING needed to be fully operational.

 
Some Additional Design Changes 

The look and layout of your site is primarily controlled by your Template Design.  Your template has several default settings for the Info Box Modules (the functional sections, such as Categories, Links, Specials, Features, My Account, etc.) that show on your site.  You can make changes to your template’s original settings.

 
When you are logged into your store’s Admin Menu go to the Design Control dropdown menu and select “Info Box Configure”.  This will show you a dashboard for controlling the Info Box Modules installed on your site.

 
Title:  The name of the module function

Font Color: The font color used by this box

Activate Box?: The green circle turns the functionality on and the red circle turns it off. You do not want to delete a box, just turn it off with the red circle.

Set Column: Click the left arrow to place the box on the left side of the site and the right arrow to have the function appear on the right side of the site.

Box Template: The function type, these are all Info Boxes.  This section might have more options if you add additional contributions to your site.

Box Heading Define:  This is the name that the code in your site reads.  So you and your clients would read the Title name, but the code on your site references the content from this section.  NOTE: do not change this name unless you are making a specific customization on your site.

Position: The up and down arrows can be clicked to move your Info Box Module up or down on the page of your site.  You can move the box closer to the top of your site with the up arrow and closer to the footer with the down arrow.

Action: When you click a row, this column tells you that you are making changes to that particular row.

 
For example, if you want to turn off the Affiliate Module Box then from your Info Box Configure dashboard you will click the row “Affiliate Info” and click the red circle in the “Activate Box” column.  If you want to move the “Quick Search” from the left of your site to the right, then click the row “Quick Find” and select the right arrow in the “Set Column” column.  You can also move this box above or below any existing right side boxes with the up or down “Position” arrows until it is in the desired position.

 
Another place where you can make changes for your template is in the Template Configuration menu.  For example, the Rounded Kool template has a section on the main page for Featured Products as part of the default setting.  The Blues template leaves much of the main page area blank.  If you want to add a Featured Section to the main page of this template or other templates which do not show the Featured Products then do the following:

1-   From your admin go to the Design Controls dropdown menu and select “Template Configure”.  This will take you to a dashboard showing all of the templates on your site.

2-   Your current template should be highlighted and listed as the default template.  On the right side red box menu click the “Edit” button.

3-   Print or record the default settings in this menu if you plan to make any changes.  This will help you to return to the original display settings if you make undesirable changes.

4-   Scroll down the right side red menu box to the “Select Modules for Catalog Index Page”.  Leave the “mainpage.php” file here so your main page content can display.  Below this field, use the dropdown menu and select “featured.php”.

5-   Click the “Save” button.

 
Now you will have the Featured Product section.  You can go to the Catalog dropdown menu and select the “Featured Products” menu to add products to this new section of your site.