Pearl allows you to manage your entire website using your Internet browser- images, templates, content and so on. Different areas of your site can have different templates- and this can be taken to an extreme to allow different websites completely running off the same product database. Your website will be under your own domain, unlike some other software systems that require you to run your online shop under a domain name such as http://yourcompany.softwarename.com

You can set your website up to create new contacts automatically in your database, and to automatically email documents to visitors depending on submitted form information.

Website pages are the same as product categories, but without any products.

Demo: Let's set up a page

1. Click Website->Categories from the main menu
2. Create a new subcategory under one of the categories shown (click ). This will become a new page on the public website. Give the page a title and a heading, and enter some content in the large box.
3. Play around with the page content and add formatting to your text; bold, lists etc
4. Click the 'upload images' button  - this will open a window that will allow you to insert images into your pages.
5. Choose an image from your hard drive that is not too large (say maximum of 400 pixels in any dimension) and upload it.
6. Pearl will save it to your server and create a thumbnail copy. Click the thumbnail copy to see the location (URL) of the image. Copy the whole URL to your clipboard (highlight it and use Ctrl+C, or right click over the highlighted text and copy).
7. Close the upload window
8. Click the insert image icon  on the WYSIWYG editor toolbar, and paste the URL from your clipboard (Ctrl-V). Tab to the next field so that Pearl automatically enters the image dimensions and click apply
9. You'll see the image in your page now. Click the 'save changes'. Make sure your new page is active by clicking the green tick icon . View it on the demo site at http://demo.thisispearl.com 
10. You can choose whether a page shows its subcategories in a table format or a list format. Try both to see what they look like. If you're using the table format, each category must also have an icon.
11. To preview a page before making it live, click the preview icon .

Contact pages

Contact pages are interactive form pages on the website where you can capture website visitors' information.

Click Website->Contact pages from the main menu. Pearl is setup with two types of forms one for visitors to send you an enquiry (contact page), and one for visitors to register their details (registration page) which is compulsory of they are buying a product online. You can create any number of these pages, and choose the fields shown on each page.

Demo: create a contact page

1. Go to Website->Contact pages. Create a new contact page by clicking the 'create new page' link
2. Enter the page name and title, set the page action to be a contact page.
3. Add any other information pre-submit and post-submit text is added using the two HTML editors at the bottom of the screen. Click 'Save changes'.
4. Now you can add the fields to the page using the drop-down menus in the grey box
5. Add a few fields to the page, making sure you include first name and email address
6. For the moment, do not tick the 'add new contacts to database' box.
7. Choose a template to be emailed when the page is submitted.
8. Once you have finished setting up your contact page, copy the contact page URL to your clipboard. It will be in the format: http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?p=contact&page_id=23
   

To link to a contact page you will either need to add a permanent link to your website template, or create a category that will appear in your main website menu. If you do the latter, then paste the contact page URL into the category URL box at the top of the screen when you are editing the category.

Visit your page via the public website http://demo.thisispearl.com and enter your own details, with your own email address. Submit the form, and you'll be emailed a copy of the template you chose. Go back to Pearl admin and search for yourself using the contacts quick search box. You'll see that Pearl knew (from your email address) that you were already an existing user and has added a note to your notes trail.

Edit your contact page and tick the 'add new contacts to database' box and set to a suitable group. Go back to your contact page on the public website and enter some random details, change one character in your email address so that Pearl does not find you in the system. Submit the form, and go back to Pearl admin. You will see that Pearl has entered you as a new contact.

Website templates

Pearl uses three files for each public website template; one for the overall look of the site (index.html), one for a listing of products (product_listing.html), and one for showing details of a specific product (product.html). There is also a stylesheet called styles.css that must exist for each template you are using, and one called calendar.css if you choose to use the calendar for the website. If you use a Dynamic Menu in any of your templates, you will also need c_config.js, c_smartmenus.js and some image files for menu arrows. For the demo, we'll just experiment with template1.

Click Documents->Website templates from the main menu and edit the index.html file for template1. You'll see that there are a number of references to modules (e.g. % BRANDS %). Text such as this will insert the relevant module when the visitor views a category with this template. Go back to your list of website pages (Website->Categories) and set one of the pages to use template1. View your changes on the public website (http://demo.thisispearl.com).

In a similar fashion you can change the appearance of the product listings, and also choose whether to include things such as availability or whether to show the visitor the quantity you have in stock.

Website statistics

You can view live detailed visitor information by clicking Website -> Statistics from the main menu

PearlCart

You can also add a shopping cart to a Pearl Website. If a category contains products thats are web enabled they will be visible on your shop where your customers can add them to their shopping cart and then complete the checkout process. PearlCart is integrated with automatic credit card processing modules from providers such as SECPay, GoogleCheckout, Protx, Paypal and Worldpay. 

Business-to-business e-commerce is another feature of Pearl; you can allow customers to access a login-only area where they can view their invoices, print statements and so on.

If you already use a PDQ card-processing machine, Pearl will encrypt card details for you to process manually on your machine if required (Purchase of secure certificate required).

Pearl will allow you to set up special offers, featured products, deals and so on.

Website and product listing templates are all editable online using the Pearl interface so that you can create exactly the look and feel you require for your online shop.

For more information please see the website user guides.