Feature List

ViArt Shop Manual

To remove the 'evaluation version' message on your ViArt, you will need to purchase a unique license and generate a license.php. Please read this section to get the instructions on the process of activation.

73. Customizing look and feel

The first thing that you are supposed to do after you have installed ViArt Shop is setting up its main parameters.

73.1. Setting up main parameters

The first thing that you need to do after you have installed ViArt Shop is to set up the main parameters.

73.3. Assigning administrators

After you have installed ViArt Shop and set up its main parameters you have to specify its administration settings.

73.4. Customizing storefront appearance

It is natural to desire an online store which is both unique and unforgettable, with ViArt Shop you can do this 'on fly'.

73.4.1. Default layout templates

ViArt Shop is supplied with nine layouts as default, 'Default', 'Curved', 'Silver', 'Convex', 'Fashion', 'Rainbow', 'Classic', 'Marine', 'Ecommerce'. You can choose either of these layouts according to the needs of your shop, or if you require, you can build your own one!

73.4.1.1. Classic

Bellow are the samples of screenshots for the 'Classic' Layout. This layout has four available schemes to choose from: blue, green, light blue, red. Select any scheme you prefer.

73.4.1.2. Curved

Bellow are the samples of screenshots for the 'Curved' Layout. This layout has three available schemes to choose from: black, blue, pink. Select any scheme you find the most suitable.

73.4.1.3. Silver

Bellow are the samples of screenshots for the 'Silver' Layout. This layout has two available schemes to choose from: dark and light. You can select the scheme that best suits your needs.

73.4.2. Global website layout

The overall view of each layout is set by its global settings. Read the following section to find out how to change the look and feel of an existing layout, also how to create a new one.

73.4.3. Site navigation

The navigation panel is displayed on all pages of your online store, with ViArt Shop you can change the way it is displayed for each layout. It is also possible to distinguish which navigation options are shown to all your visitors and/or only to those who logged in.

73.4.4. Home page layout

This section details how the home page layout is produced. Read the following to understand how to customize the home page layout to suit your needs.

73.5. SMS functionality

When running an online store, it is very important to stay up to date with what happening behind the scenes. With ViArt Shop it is possible remain aware of occurrances on your site, even if you are away from your computer!. This is possible thanks toViArts SMS functionality, this function allows you to setup your shopping cart system to send you SMS's whenever certain event/s occur.

75. Adding products and categories

This chapter will show you how to add products and catagories into your online store.

75.11. 'Tell a friend' option

Sometimes it might be very handy to have a possibility to inform a friend of yours about what you've found. With ViArt Shop your customers will have it. This can also be a good and free promotion of your site.

78. Managing customer accounts

Even though you run an online store and deal mainly with orders, it would not be out of place to know who your customers are. ViArt Shop allows you to control your customers accounts through the 'Customers' section.

78.1. Viewing/editing customer account details

Sometimes you may need to look through some customer personal details. ViArt Shop provides you with such a possibility.

78.1.1. General details

Sometimes you may need to look through some customer personal details. ViArt Shop provides you with such a possibility.

78.1.2. Login details

Sometimes you might need to look through or even edit customer login details. Read what you should do in this case.

78.2. Customer types

As you might have already understood customer type is a key notion in the overall customer account management. It defines main customer account settings, discounts a customer will have and customer profile fields.

78.2.1. Customer account settings

Actually, the key notion in the overall customer management in ViArt Shop is customer type. It defines main customer account settings, discounts a customer will have and customer profile fields.

78.2.2. Customer profile settings

Customer profile contains some information about the customer. You can define what kind of it you need by setting up specific fields.

78.3. Restoring forgotten passwords

It often happens that customers forget their password. In such a case they can apply to a site administrator providing their logins and some personal information. But it would be much easier to use a special password restoring option.

78.4. Searching customer accounts

Should you ever need to find a customer, you can use the search block in the 'Customers' section.

79. HelpDesk

HelpDesk system is based upon exchanging support tickets. Support Tickets are used for resolving any issue or problem your customers may have. ViArt HelpDesk allows you to track users requests with the help of unique ticket number in a quick and easy way.

79.1. Support Tickets

Support Ticket System enables your support team to track all the support requests as well as to ensure that no query goes unanswered.

79.1.1. Create a support ticket

This section provides an information for your customers on how to create a ticket to a tech support team if they face a problem or have a question.

79.1.2. Answering a support ticket

Please read this section to know how to send, assign or edit a support ticket.

79.1.3. How to create a request

ViArt HelpDesk allows to create a request for each client. To do this, you should click Create Message Link and fill the appropriate form.

79.1.4. Search for a ticket

You or a support specialist may need to find some particular ticket. In this case, you can use a search tool available in the support centre.

79.2. HelpDesk Settings

The section covers main support center's settings such as Knowledge Base, attachments, random image validation, and email notifications.

79.3. HelpDesk Users

This section shows how to assign HelpDesk users - the staff responsible for smooth communication with your customers.

79.4. Customers Ranks

You can estimate your customer by assigning an appropriate status to him. It is necessary if you want to distinguish the most valuable customers.

79.5. Predefined Replies

While preparing an answer to a customer, you can use the Predefined Reply option. Predefined messages can be inserted into your reply by a mouse click. Using predefined messages allows you to save your time and impress your customer with a quick reply.

79.6. Departments

Once you install your HelpDesk, it is very important to create a department (for example, a support department).

79.7. Types

With ViArt helpdesk module you can set the types of a support ticket. Setting the right type of a ticket helps a support team to correctly identify the issue.

79.8. Supported Products

One more feature of ViArt HelpDesk is that it provides you with a possibility to support any product you need.

79.9. Priorities

It is usually very important to sort the support tickets by their priorities. ViArt Shop provides you with such a possibility.

79.10. Statuses

ViArt HelpDesk gives you the possibility to create and edit statuses for your replies to customers' support tickets. This option helps you to sort all the tickets at your convenien

79.11. Reports

You may find it necessary to have some reports on the support tickets. With ViArt Shop helpdesk module you can easily view the status of support tickets, namely, how many tickets were answered, how many tickets are awaiting response, how many tickets were closed, etc

80. Forum

One of the important modules of ViArt Shop is its Forum - an independent portal, intended to provide an online communication between shopping cart users as well as to offer useful information on numerous important issues. If a person has a problem or an idea he/she will have an opportunity to share it with others.

80.1. Forum Threads

Forum consists of shopping cart related threads or issues which you and your users can exchange and which are later archived for future reference.

80.1.1. Create a new topic

Before adding a new topic you should firstly choose the forum to which you want to post your question or issue.

80.1.2. Answer a thread

You or someone from your support team may wish to join the discussion and give some piece of advice. In this case, you are to post an answer to a thread.

80.1.3. Add a new category

Categories are 'parents' to forums and are used to hold a group of forums. Your users are unable to post their messages to categories, they can only post their threads to forums. A site which has only a few forum discussion boards may not need any categories. However, if your site has a lot of forum modules, it will be useful for you to create a category.

80.1.4. Add a new forum

Sometimes, you may need to create multiple forums for different areas of discussions.

80.2. Forum Settings

With forum settings you have the possibility to customize your forum according to your requirements. First of all, you should set the global settings.

81. System management

This chapter is likely to cover the most general settings affecting the whole system and how it works. It allows attuning your ViArt Shop online store just the way you like as well as making main adjustments required for proper operation.

81.1. Privilege groups

When you are running any kind of business it is no wonder that you need some help. This is true for an online store as well. However, you might not want other people all the information stores in the database. With ViArt Shop you can set up different user groups and assigned different permissions to them.

81.4. Black IPs

E-commerce is a place where fraud is very possible. So, you have to protect yourself and your customers as well. With ViArt Shop you can watch IPs your customer use for shopping and block those you think might be trickery.

81.5. Banned Content

As time goes by, your online store will grow larger and larger. And it will be quite difficult to watch everything in it, especially what your customers may add or post on it. In such a way you can make your life easier by using banned content functionality.

81.6. Static messages

When working with ViArt Shop you have all the possibilities to make your online store one and only. You can change the feel and look of your site, select different templates and change color schemes. Another great feature is that you have the ability to edit the messages your customers see while surfing your site without the necessity to edit any files.

91. Reminder Service

Manuals Search

71.2. Feature List

Browse through the complete feature list of our e-commerce solutions. Look at a particular feature, compare the products and find those that suit your needs. For your convenience the feature list is divided into the following blocks: General, Products & Categories, Sales Orders, Supported payment systems, Viart CMS, HelpDesk Support, Forum, Classified Ads, Customers' Accounts, System administration.

Feature List Free Light Standard Enterprise CMS Helpdesk More Info

General

No programming required

Complete ready-to-run ecommerce storefront software

MySQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC, DB2 support see section 15.3

97% open source PHP code

Works on Windows, UNIX, Linux, FreeBSD, MacOS

User-friendly storefront see section 73.4

Easy-to-use web-based administrative panel

Multi-site support with a single database and from one administration panel see section 47

Multiple languages support see section 38.4

Multiple currency support see section 38.3

SEO facilities see section 36

Secure facilities see section 16.3

E-commerce features - -

Integrated Content Management System (Viart CMS) Limited

Intergated Customer Support System (HelpDesk) - - -

Integrated multi-level moderated forum - -

Integrated bulletin board (Classified ads) -

Integrated manual system - - - see section 80

Free license upgrades Unlimited 6 months 9 months 1 year 6 months 1 year see section 1.3

System support

Products and Categories

Unlimited number of products 50 - - see section 75.3

Unlimited number of categories and subcategories, nested as many levels deep as you like 10 - - see section 75.2

Each product can be placed to an unlimited number of categories - - see section 75.4.7

Customizable list and details pages layouts - - see section 75.1

Ability to change category order - - see section 75.2.2

Ability to change product order - - see section 75.6

Enable/disable products - - see section 75.4.2

Import/export of categories from/to CSV files - - see section 75.2.3

Import/export of products from/to CSV files, possibility to export only filtered products - - see section 75.7

Google Base Exporting Feature - - see section 89

Moderated product reviews and ratings see section 75.8

Products types, default options and specification groups - - see section 75.3

Ability to duplicate products with the same characteristics - - see section 75.4.11

Related products/accessories and cross-selling - - see section 75.4.6

Downloadable product releases - - see section 75.4.10

Ability to use predefined serial numbers for downloadable products - - see section 22

Products comparison - - see section 75.4.2

Ability to show product only for selected languages - - see section 75.4.2

List price markdowns: list price (listed MSRP) and current price (your price) - - see section 75.4.2

Product full/short HTML/plain text description - - see section 75.4.2

META keywords and description for each product and category - - see section 75.4.2

Ability to add product to special offer section on the main page - - see section 75.4.2

Main product images in four sizes (tiny, small, big and super-sized) - - see section 75.4.2

Unlimited number of product images - - see section 75.4.8

Customizable product appearance - - see section 75.4.2

Products can be shown to all/logged/non-logged customers - - see section 75.3.1

Prices can be shown with/without taxes or both with and without taxes at the same time - - see section 73.1

Products predefined prices - -

Tax-exemption of products - - see section 75.4.2

Ability to show product code on products list page, product details page, basket page, orders/checkout pages - - see section 75.3.1

Ability to hide 'Add to cart' button on products list or details pages - - see section 75.3.1

Ability to hide 'View cart' button on products list or details pages - - see section 75.3.1

Ability to hide 'Check out' button on products list or details pages - - see section 75.3.1

Ability to hide weight information on products details page - - see section 75.3.1

Product stock accounting - - see section 75.4.2

An option to reserve/release stock levels when status changed - -

Ability to hide or disable off limits products - - see section 75.4.2

Support for non tangible downloadable products with activation options - - see details

Affiliate programmes with direct links - - see section 75.4.2.3

Product handling (shipping freight) charges - - see section 77.1.2

Customizable shipping modules and methods - - see section 77.1

Free shipping option and indvidual shipping costs per product - - see section 77.1.3

Real-time shipping quotes with major shipping companies (UPS, USPS, FedEx and CanadaPost) - - see section 77.1.1

Discount coupons and gift certificates - - see section 75.9

Enable/disable discounts - -

Quantity based discounts - -

User-friendly simple and advanced product search - - see section 75.5, see section 75.10

'Tell a friend' option - - see section 75.11

Product report generation system - - see section 75.12

Email and SMS notitfication setting per product - - see section 75.4.2

Image resizing functionality - - see section 75.3.1

Test data population option - -

Default product image - - see section 75.3.1

Restricted delivery by countries - -

Percentage price for product options - -

Ability to import already uploaded files - -

Settings for Google Analytics

Affiliates Module see section 46

Merchant Module - - see section 85

Banned and allowed credit card numbers per payment gateway - -

Credit and Rewards functionalities support - -

Bonus Points Functionality - - see section 87

Watermarks support for products images - -

Wishlist functionality and possibility to create wishlist types - -

Dependendable product options - -

Pre-order button - -

An option to select what columns to show on basket, orders, checkout and invoice pages - -

Ability to run PHP code in the product fields - -

Subscription functionality - - see section 44

Ability to set order restrictions for total products cost and weight - -

Ability to automatically place zero orders without submitting payment details - -

Sales Orders

PHP-based shopping cart - -

Different types of controls (label, listbox, textbox etc.) - -

Adjustable settings for adding product process - - see section 75.4

Order maintenance system - - see section 76

Online orders tracking - -

All orders are stored in the database - -

Export/import of all/newest orders - - see section 76.3

Comprehensive orders search engine (with numerous search filters) - - see section 76.2

Orders email notifications for administrator and customer - - see section 75.4.2.2, see section 78.2.2

A three-step checkout - -

Ability to support different payment systems - - see section 74.2.1

Fully customizable order profile, payment details, final checkout and confirmation pages - - see section 74.1.1, see section 74.2.1.2, see section 74.2.1.3, see section 74.3

Ability to use SSL on order profile and payment details pages - - see section 73.1

Ability to use custom fields - - see section 74.1.2

Adjustable order statuses - - see section 74.4

E-mail notification for user if status is applied - - see section 74.4

Ability to use special tags in email body and email subject - - see section 75.4.2

Customizable printable packing slips in two formats: HTML and PDF - - see section 76.1.2

Customizable printable invoices in two formats: HTML and PDF - - see section 76

Tax rate system based on product types - - see section 74.5

Comprehensive orders statistics - - see section 76.4

Comprehensive orders report system - - see section 76.6

Call centre module - - see section 27.8

Recurring Payments - - see section 13.4

Reports for tracking visits

Save/retrieve cart functionality - -

A new option to prevent customers from repurchasing the same products within a specified period of time - -

Possibility to use product and manufacturer codes to show their barcodes on packing slips - -

Supported payment systems

Google Checkout API - - see section 28.3

PayPal - - see section 74.2.3, see section 74.2.3.1

PayPal Pro (Express Checkout) - - see section 74.2.3.2

PayPal Pro (Direct API) - - see section 74.2.3.3

VeriSign PayFlow Link - -

Authorize.Net SIM - -

WorldPay - -

2CheckOut - -

Authorize.Net AIM - -

PRI Merchants Advanced - -

YourPay Connect - -

YourPay API - -

LinkPoint Connect - -

LinkPoint API - -

Paymate Express - -

Protx VSP Form - -

Protx VSP Direct - -

eGold SCI - -

Beanstream API - -

Payoffshore API - -

iDEAL Advanced for Ing Bank - -

VeriSign PayFlow Pro - -

ePDQ CPI - -

Garanti - -

VirtualXS - -

ePDQ MPI - -

ProxyPay - -

Posnet - -

Akbank - -

Netbilling - -

Chronopay - -

Multipay - -

Akbank 3D secure - -

Protx VSP Server - -

VCS - -

Cybersource - -

Korta - -

eCommerceConnect - -

CashU - -

ECHO - -

Moneybookers - -

SIPS - -

DGL (Credit Card) - -

DGL (ACH Interface) - -

DGL (EUDEBIT Interface) - -

Nochex - -

iDEAL Easy for ABN AMRO - -

PayFlow Pro Direct - -

PayFlow Pro Express - -

Gate2Shop - -

Viart CMS

Fully customizable appearance of the whole storefront see section 73.4

META data and HTML description of the main page see section 73.1

Nine basic layout schemes see section 73.4.1, see section 73.4.1.5, see section 73.4.1.2, see section 73.4.1.3

Full CMS support on all pages

Filtering system see section 92

Customizable listing and details pages see section 75.1.1, see section 75.1.2

Customizable site navigation see section 73.4.3

Ability to post articles -

Six default articles categories: News, Links, FAQ, Image Gallery, Events, Knowledge Base -

Unlimited number of custom articles categories 20 -

Able/disable category -

Unlimited number of articles 100 -

Moderated articles reviews -

RSS feed support -

META data for each article category -

Small and full-sized images for each category -

Ability to set up templates and fields properties -

Customizable articles statuses -

File manager -

Ability to upload zip files -

Single/multiple choice(s) opinion polls - see section 6.3

Customizable custom pages

META data for each custom page - see section 6.1

Custom page can be opened in the main window or in a popup window -

Ability to create new custom pages see section 6.1

Ability to create custom blocks see section 6.2

Banners Management - see section 6.4

Related products functionality for articles and articles categories -

A new Layouts block which enables your customers to switch among different active templates -

A secondary menu can be now displayed under the top header menu -

Possibility to specify the depth level of visible menu items in navigation menus on each page separately -

Ability to show text and images for top menu links -

HelpDesk Support

Comprehensive tickets management engine - - -

All tickets are stored in database - - -

Unlimited number of tickets 100 - - -

Comprehensive tickets search engine - - -

Ability to create a message to a customer without initial request - - -

Full statistics - - -

E-mail notifications for administrator and customer - - -

Ability to use special tags in email body and email subject - - -

Customer support system - - -

Unlimited number of administrators 10 - - -

Ability to reassign tickets to other managers - - - see section 79.1.2

Ability to use predefined replies and signatures - - - see section 79.1.2

Unlimited number of departments 2 - - - see section 79.6

Ability to assign managers to different departments - - -

Different types of customer's requests - - - see section 79.7

Ability to specify supported products - - - see section 79.8

Three levels of priority: high, normal and low - - - see section 79.9

Customizable ticket statuses - - - see section 79.10

Ability to specify status icon and highlight ticket summary with HTML tags - - -

Statistics report for each manager - - -

Ability to use attachments both by Admin and Users - - - see section 79.1.2

Image validation to prevent robots submit - - - see section 79.2

Knowledge base option - - - see section 79.2

Possibility to customize a Helpdesk page by create custom fields - - -

Forum

Multi-level moderated forum - - see section 80

Unlimited number of categories, forums and topics - - see section 80.1

Ability to select forum administrator - -

Small and full-sized images for each forum - - see section 80.1.4

Forum introduction text - -

Tree or list forum structure - -

Ability to define users that are allowed to view different forum topics - -

Ability to set random image validation to prevent robot submit - - see section 80.2

Forum statistics tracking - - see section 80.1.4

Ability to use forum avatar, both for administrators and customers - -

Different forum privileges by user groups - -

New forum option to change the priority of topic to show them first or last - -

Classified Ads

Fully customizable list and details pages layouts -

Able/disable ads categories -

Unlimited number of ads categories and sub-categories 10 -

Changeable categories order -

Small and full-sized images for each category -

Short/full category description -

Unlimited number of ads 100 -

Comprehensive ads search engine -

Ability to search in products options and specifications -

Unlimited number of ads types, specification groups and properties -

E-mail notifications for administrator and customer -

Ability to use special tags in email body and email subject -

Ability to define maximum number of images -

Customizable image settings -

'Tell a friend' option -

Customers' Accounts

Comprehensive customers support system

Customers' personal accounts

Ability to use SSL on customer's account page

Comprehensive customers search engine

Full registration statistics

Customers can/cannot order without registration - -

Import/export customers

Customer types see section 78.2

Customer discount types

Customer's personal/delivery information

Customer's image support

E-mail notifications for administrator and customer

Ability to use special tags in email body and email subject

'Forgotten password' option see section 78.3

Two kinds of passwords: non-encrypted and MD-5 encrypted see section 78.3

Tax free option per customer or a group

Possibility to upload or specify customers e-mails for sending newsletter

Reminder service for customers see section 91

Set birthday greeting messages to customers

System administration

Secure password-protected access see section 73.3

Unlimited number of administrators 10 see section 73.3

Ability to use personal signature see section 73.3

Unlimited number of privilege groups with different permissions see section 81.1

Ability to assign privileges to another group see section 81.1

Newsletters management system see section 81.2

Static tables see section 81.3

Option to use SSL for administrators login

Personal bookmarks for administrators

SMTP and PGP encryption support

Database Management

Friendly URLs functionality and possibility to create custom fURLs see section 82

Black IP list see section 81.4

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