OK software for the price. (4.0)

Serif Internet Design Suite is three programs - WebPlus 10, PhotoPlus 9, and PhotoObjects. WebPlus 10 is fine for the beginner who wants to make a simple web site. It is fairly intuitive but lacks impressive features. Serif has since come out with a newer version of WebPlus that does more, but you can find free or inexpensive programs to complement this version and save a bundle. For example, the photo gallery is much too basic, but there are many other photo galleries you can incorporate into your WebPlus 10 web site. The other two programs, PhotoPlus and PhotoObjects, are not useful unless you are familiar with programs such as PhotoShop. The price was right for the simple web site I am creating, but one could do better if willing to spend more.

E-Commerce Guide (4.0)

Found this book to be a good guide for developing E-Commerce website for the beginner. Although it covers quite a bit of material including things like credit card transactions and receiving payment using PayPal it certainly not going to make the reader a professional in developing such sites. If you liked a step by step approach this may be the book for you. It does lack the in-depth discussions on the various topics. In all fairness, there are complete books written on the various topics.

What this book does give you is a chance to develop a complete e-commerce website. Giving a good overall understanding of developing such a site. It could be used as a starting point for a more in-depth study in the reader really wants to become proficient at developing such sites.

Do not get this book if you want to learn C# or ASP.net. If you want to see how to set up an e-commerce site using C# and an ASP.net then this is a good book for. I would recommend that you know C# and be familiar with ASP.net before reading this book.

Good concept, but... (2.0)

The book provides a worthwhile case study of building an E-Commerce website from scratch using ASP.NET. HOWEVER, there are a few major cons that mar the whole

1. As other reviewers have mentioned, there are TONS of grammar- and punctuation- related errors that make this thing a nightmare to read, particularly in the early chapters.

2. While the code is functional in most cases, the author opted to use his own database access system rather than implementing LINQ, which would have been much faster. Isn't this book supposed to cover "ASP.NET 3.5"?

Otherwise, a useful case study with good examples albeit a bit too much verbiage in many areas.

Great Subject Content but... (3.0)

Way too many errors in the book and source code.

This book has excellent subject content. However, there are many errors and omissions in this book. One fundamental example would be the fact that the sample products in the book have different attributes, yet the shopping cart will only allow you to add one instance of the product id. Obviously this doesn't work out if you need to add the same product in, for example, 2 different sizes. There is also no support for these attributes in the admin system. After emailing the author several times trying to get updated code, I gave up and worked on fixing the issues myself. I had to add quite a lot of functionality to both the database and the code to make the cart work the way the book indicated that it should.

I am not a ASP.NET (C#) guru by any means but had enough knowledge to be able to overcome the problems in this book's source code. However, I'm sure a true beginner (Billy Bob who has never done any programming before and needs an E-Commerce site) would have thrown in the towel. The source code for this book was not well tested and you need to have some prior .NET and SQL Server experience to be able to overcome these errors and omissions. To say that this book is for complete beginners is a misrepresentation. As the other reviewers pointed out, you will not get any help from the authors (even though they give their contact info). We all know mistakes happen in books, but part of writing a book is publishing errata to fix these mistakes. The authors of this book seem to have washed their hands of this responsibility to the people who purchased this book.

This is a real shame, because this would have been an excellent book. The editing of the book and testing of the source code just needed to be a lot better for it to be suitable for the "beginners" it targets.

A very good book for beginners/starters (5.0)

I am a Database SME for the last 15 years and have not done any serious programming in any traditional language such as C, C++, and .Net for the last 8 years. Got a fascination to get into programming again starting with C# as the IT programming landscape is getting closer between DBAs and developers. I was introduced to this book by one of our senior IT engineers. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and more importantly going step by step programming in C#. I could not have asked for better. The book is guided by many worked out small scale projects which is useful and becomes interesting for beginners like me. The PayPal project was a good experience to get into details and work on a full fledged project.
At the end of each section, the "How it works" section is really useful and gives a glimpse of the internals.
I would definitely recommend this book for any beginners, especially database professionals embarking on learning a widely used language besides their comfort zone of "T-SQL" and hence a 5 star.

A good idea waste by could not careless attitude (3.0)

when i saw the title i was so happy.
When i read the review here i decided
to buy the book.
But when i am reading it i have to make some precisions
Many people here are confusing about two things.

1--The idea behind a book

2--the content of the book and the support of the book

Many here acclamed the book ,rating it 5 stars.
According to me :If it is about the idea behind the book then they are right
E commerce is so famous.There is no need to make any additional advertisement for it.
But about the content and the management of the book;i would say :
It is a good idea spoiled by could not careless attitude.
How can we explain so many error in code?
what was the technical reviewer doing? He neither appreciate nor comments about the book
I found it suspicious
Why is APRESS so silent about users requests? Up to know no correction have been released at their website
That s curious as many people have wrote to them!!!
Why does the authors consider themselves as the last king of scotland?
Why? why and why?
It s a pity to see a so beautiful idea spoiled like that.
But what i am claiming here is simple
If anybody have succeed to fix all the bugs can he share his working solution with others?
I am begging some help as i am landed in trouble in building CategoriesList web control user
I am waiting for generous help,as i believe it can came from here
neither from Apress nor from the authors
i am waiting

Not Happy (1.0)

I was looking forward to recieving this software, only to find out that you can only use the store you create with a Windows server. It would have been nice to know that before I bought it.

e-commerce review (1.0)

I have found this program extremely hard to understand and use. I own frontpage, and think that it is much easier to navigate and get things accomplished. This program is not for begginers and I am in desperate need of help with it, but can't seem to find that either. Manual or not- I do not like this program.

Creating web or E-Commerce sites with E-Commerce const Kit (5.0)

I've tried many applications, but frankly this new version 7 E-commerce contruction Kit from MacMillan publishing & Boomerang Software is absolutely great.
It was easy to isntall and use, the instructins were clear, it came with a printed user guide (which seems to be a luxury nowadays with software packs), and it did what it promised.
I can make regular web sites, but my real interest was to make E-Commerce sites, with a database using Access. It did this flawlessly. I could have used its internal Database to add my products, but I chose to directly import my Microsoft Access database of products and prices, which worked great.
Its Active Server Pages enable me to build and add more ASP code to create more dynamic and advanced features visually, which is very nice and powerful, I do not recall having seen such a thing anywhere else.
All in all, I was quite pleased with it, and I reccommend it.

Perfect book to motivate my son (5.0)

My son is twelve and doesn't pay attention much in school - he has a big lack of interest in learning. I've been trying to motivate him to strive for something, and although he is young, I wanted him to feel like other children his age and have a dream for his life, even if it is only temporary.

This book was a great resource for my son. It was well written, easy for him to understand, and gave him inspiration to start working on the computer. The series came recommended by our public library which carried the book.

I think it will take more work to keep him going, but so far this week, he has been very excited. Thanks.

No help for Career Development (1.0)

I purchased this book hoping to find out about the opportunities available specifically in e-Commerce. This book, however, focuses on software programming/engineering in general. It is thin, elementary, and out-of-date.

What a lifesaver, literally (5.0)

Well, I read all 200+ reviews before purchasing this product, but finally did, and must say I'm totally pleased with it. I have around 5 acres of property on a busy road, and have just recently rescued a Lab. I cannot fence the property, due to wetlands, ledge, forest, septic field, hills and dips, and cost, and was taking her out on a leash to do her business. While that's fine for now, but come winter in Maine, I didn't relish the thought of traipsing in the snow.

I received the system, and realized I would have to train to the audible alert, because the flags would not be visible under the snow here in Maine. So that's one warning to everyone considering this excellent system. And there should be directions on how to do this in the instructions for those who might not have a clue, but there aren't, so I set up the flags for my knowledge of the boundaries, but did not call her attention to them. It took only one session for Jess to learn. Knowing the dog is helpful, but I found the number 2 setting wasn't more irritating than a flea bite. I put it at 3 and that definitely got her attention. We went to two areas along the boundary, and she received a shock, and since then will turn back as soon as she hears the beeps.

Siting the transmitter is very important, and checking the whole area is advisable. I read some reviews stating that sometimes it would go off in the middle of the set area, and yes, it did happen to me. At that point I was walking a grid with the collar attached to my leg at her neck level, and on level 2. I highly recommend you do something like that to locate any problem areas.

So I moved to the transmitter to the basement, fairly high up from the floor (about 4 ft), and that took care of the problem. I have a walkout basement, with the level 10 feet lower than the front of the house, and a built up septic field on the other side, somewhat higher. I found no problems with the coverage, every area is covered, and I think that's because all interference (wireless router, computers, tvs, etc.) are upstairs and there's really nothing down.

One slight idiosyncrasy I noted was that some areas have a longer warning area (4 ft) and some have a way shorter length (1 ft). Again, it's probably because of the layout of the land, and it's not a problem if you train to the tones rather than the flags. Also be aware the distance might fluctuate. It's not an issue for me, but for those on city lots it very well could be. Test it every now and then with a grid walk.

I've also read the built in power failure detector isn't reliable, so it might be worthwhile to buy a small UPS dedicated to the product. We have an automatic generator, but there's still about 45 secs. before it kicks in. The other issue for some people may be the collar. While it's fine for larger dogs like Jess, I really can't see an 8 pound dog wearing it. Fortunately, one can use your own collar for it, using the holes in the original as a template.

All in all, this is a lifesaver for us. I'd lost my very special dog to the busy road when she escaped, and I only wish I'd known about this product a couple of years ago. Highly recommended.

Worked Well for Us... be careful not to leave it on though... (4.0)

I read all the reviews and I think because my house is a newer build and my yard is flat, PetSafe worked great. Couple of things to be careful about:

1- I have a High Energy Pitbull mix breed and she was completely terrified on the 3 (2-6) setting. The directions say set it at 6 for High Energy dogs, but I don't recommend it. The warning beeps work very well to get your dog back in the perimeter.
2- If your dog does get past the line it just shocks them non stop outside of the zone, and your dog may not know to come back to the yard perimeter and just gets shocked consistently. So I don't recommend leaving them unattended too long.
3- Be sure to take the collar off indoors in case there is a power outage or a battery issue, otherwise she will get shocked.

I recommend this product but you have to a be a responsible pet owner and not just assume once she's trained its all good from there.

Very Pleased (5.0)

This wireless containment system almost works too good. Our little dachshund would not stay in the yard, would run in the street and chased every animal and every person that went by. After getting this system she will not leave the yard and after a little over a month, we don't even have to put the collar on her anymore!! Once she received the shock correction a few times, she would not leave the yard again. There are six levels of shock to adjust on the the collar. I tried it on myself first to see what it feels like and determined #3 was best for my dog. The collar gives the dog a warning first by beeping and if the dog continues forward gives the shock until they come back behind the boundary. Your yard should be relatively flat with no dips or dropoffs for this to work well. The transmitter is silent and once turned on, draws an invisible circle around where it is placed. The size of the circle can be adjusted. If you have real close neighbors this probably won't work well cause even on the smallest adjustment it will still allow the dog into your neighbors yard somewhat. My neighbor is okay with it & I live on a corner lot so this worked perfect for me. I bought the system used on Amazon & all the parts were there and it was easy to set up & the dog was trained in no time. I was able to get rid of the cable tie out we used to use that got wrapped around everything. Now we just let her out the door!!!

Does not work, not recommended (1.0)

I followed all directions, but one side of my house will not work. I have moved the unit. I have turned the unit and I have reset the unit. My dog can walk right between my neighbors house and our house with no response from the unit. When she comes back into the yard the collar beeps. Several times the collar just quits working for no reason. I then have to reset everything. Now I cant get it to work at all. Yes I have changed the batteries.

Honesty (3.0)

I think this product is a great idea..it's a bit savvy to set up when you have a larger lot.....it seems to work, but still quite a bit of effort on your part to trust it to work..sometimes shock is strong enough, sometimes not.....work in progress tho...Im keeping it, so that might speak for itself...somewhat pricey, but way way less than fence.....

Ecommerce (5.0)

the autors explained so well the book and it's true after you finish of read it you will be a proffesional if you are a novice. Really help me with my project

Stopped at Chapter 3 due to code errors. (1.0)

There is nothing more frustrating then dealing with error filled code. I spent two days trying to get the code in chapter three to run before filing this book in the round file. No errata on the Apress site and the downloaded code from the author's site is totally different from the book. The downloaded code does not run either. Do not waste your time or money on this book.

Excellent Introduction to Smarty, PDO, OOP (5.0)

This book is a wonderful introduction for procedural PHP developers looking over the fence at Object Oriented Programming. Although I'm not yet ready to go live with OOP after reading this book, it has moved my learning curve forward considerably and rapidly. Read and study every word and line of code carefully, and you will not be disappointed. If/when you get stuck at chapter 4, keep at it. It's your Smarty that needs work. Once you start creating sub-queries (in chapter 5, I recall), you will need to move your work to a LAMP or MAMP environment. Sub-queries don't work in Windows MySQL installations. This is an issue Mr. Darie addresses on his web site.

Good luck and enjoy the ride! This book is pure gold!

Be careful if you are on a windows based machine! (1.0)

Be very careful with this book if you are on a windows based machine. There is a PHP bug noted on page 150. Unfortunately, no reliable fix or work around is noted anywhere. The fix noted on the errata sheet does not help the matter. Furthermore, there are many forums discussing the problem, but none of them offer a viable solution. The book could be worth four stars if this problem were actually addressed. The author new about the problem, but failed to offer a viable solution to people working on a windows based machine. All they had to do was create a different approach to making multiple queries to the database. What a disappointment.

Perfect! (5.0)

I can't speak highly enough of this book, but be sure you are buying it for the rights reasons. Here's why:

I have good knowledge of HTML and CSS, but I know very little about PHP, SQL, and MySQL. I want to start an online store, and HTML and CSS just won't cut it. I knew from the beginning I would need to learn PHP, and likely JavaScript to create a functioning store.

HOWEVER: This book does not teach you PHP. It does not teach you JavaScript, or SQL, MySQL, AJAX, or any programming language at all. Are we clear on that? Good.

Now that that is settled, let's see why this book really shines!

This book is about e-commerce. It is a tutorial, and it leads you step-by-step through creating an online store that is fully-functional, secure, and flexible. If you do all the steps, you end up with a complete store. Oh, wait, did I say IF you do all the steps? Actually, no. You can cut and paste the code as you go, if you want, although you would learn less that way. Either way, you need to be thorough. Programming is not for the sloppy, impatient, or anyone with the "that's close enough" mentality. You must follow the instructions meticulously, and you will have to track down every typo. There will be some troubleshooting involved, but I figured it out, and I don't know PHP, like I said earlier.

So, if the code is available for download at the author's website . . . why get the book at all? Well, because if you want to learn how it all works together, how to customize it without breaking it, how to improve or adapt it, and why it is set up the way it is--then you need to read the book. It is easy enough to read and understand, even without much knowledge of PHP.

I found this book to be perfect, because it is exactly what I needed: a tutorial for creating a fully-functional, secure, and flexible store.

So is this book for raw beginners? No. You should have enough experience with webpages to comprehend HTML and CSS, minimally. Experience with programming is a help, but not necessary.

So is this book for intermediate web designers? Absolutely!

How about advanced designers . . . well, I'm not qualified to answer that. But I can tell you the authors of this book have very sound logic when it comes to the architecture of an online store. I imagine it would be beneficial to all but the most experienced designers.

Bottomline?

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ANYONE DESIGNING AN ONLINE STORE.