The Camera Centre is now accepting orders utilising Google Checkout making life even easier for shoppers to get great camera and accessory deals!

Checkout www.thecameracentre.net …. pardon the pun!

From reading through the blogosphere and all the varying Magento forums its obvious lots of people are having issues in upgrading from Magento 1.3.x to 1.4.x due to custom theme problems and errors. I was no different! Who would have thought these things could be so difficult!?

After several attempts at upgrading Magento to 1.4.x failing dismally I set about toying with a development site until I could figure out what was what?! Its detailed everywhere that your 1.3.x theme will have to be re-written to work with 1.4.x but I’ve managed to get a simple enough process working for me in upgrading Magento 1.3.x to 1.4.x and keeping my custom 1.3.x theme working in 1.4.x without any re-development at all! So here goes:

1. Log into the Magento Backend Admin Panel and remove products that you have placed in more than one category. Just have your products in one category otherwise these cause errors after the upgrade.
2. Turn off SEO url rewrites (System >> Configuration >> Web >> Search Engines Optimization)
3. Turn off cache management (System >> Cache Management)

The following from CrucialWebHost’s help site is perfect:

A little cleanup first:

rm -rf downloader/pearlib/cache/* downloader/pearlib/download/*

Set the permissions on the pear file so we can run it:

chmod 550 pear

I then cleaned out the cache myself manually to be sure:

rm -Rf var/cache/*

and again from the CrucialWebHost:

Initialize the PEAR channel just in case:

./pear mage-setup .

And then we can upgrade:

./pear upgrade-all

If it tells you that there’s Nothing to upgrade, you’ll need to do this instead:

./pear install magento-core/Mage_All_Latest

Lastly, we need to clear out any temporary and cached data. These commands will be done via SSH in the staging directory.

rm -rf downloader/pearlib/cache/* downloader/pearlib/download/*
rm -rf var/cache/ var/session/ var/report/ media/tmp/

And then reset our file and directory permissions:

find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
chmod 550 pear

After this point delete everything in the following to clean out the backend cache (you need to do this or you will get errors when saving new configurations and probably logging into magento admin after upgrade too)

rm -Rf app/code/core/Zend/Cache/*

Log into your new 1.4.x Magento Backend Admin Panel from index.php/admin/

1. ReIndex Data on everything (System >> Index Management)
2. Turn on SEO rewrites  (System >> Configuration >> Web >> Search Engines Optimization)
3. Turn on Cache Management (System >> Cache Management)

From this process you have theoretically upgraded your Magento installation to the latest 1.4.x version of Magento and have your custom theme working fine. Or at least I have, I can’t guarantee that this process will work for everyone out there?!

Good luck.

The Camera Centre web presence has been updated with a fantastic selection of Rollei digital cameras and associated products.

Rollei’s digital camera products can be easily purchased through the new easy to use interface and one step checkout system in just a couple of mouse clicks.

Currently celebrating their 90 year aniversary. Rollei cameras:

are easy to use and function extremely well ─ these were the main criteria of company founders Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke while designing the legendary twin lens Rolleiflex back in 1929. It rapidly became a widely used tool of professional photographers and the dream of every amateur one.

The high quality standards of Rollei’s founders remain virtually unchanged today.

The “twin lens” feature initiated the constant development of innovative devices. Important milestones in design were the compact Rollei 35 mm camera, the Rolleiflex SL66 with built-in lens bellows, the first electronically controlled medium-format Rolleiflex SLX, and the 35 mm mirror reflex SL 2000F with interchangeable film backs. And Rollei’s twin slide projectors are one-of-a-kind in the world.

Do check out thecameracentre.net’s fantastic new Rollei range!

Noticed how the instructions to install your Comodo SSL certificate flags an error when you flick onto HTTPS? The way to fix this is to employ the following for both the :

<script language=”JavaScript” type=”text/javascript”>
var comodohost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://” : “http://”);
COT(comodohost + “www.yourdomain.tld/cot.gif”, “SC2″, “none”);
</script>

<script type=”text/javascript”>
var comodohost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://” : “http://”);
TrustLogo(comodohost+”www.yourdomain.tld/tl_white.gif”, “SC4″, “none”);</script>

Note the new comodohost variable being used to provide either the HTTPS or HTTP connection.

The Camera Centre – Reboot!

Visit www.thecameracentre.net

The Camera Centre website’s last incarnation had been turning over since 2004 and it was time to launch into the 2010 new year with a vibrant and easy to use system not only for members but for administration also. Tieing more succinctly with back-end shop operations the new website cuts out tedious stock filling across multiple systems whilst providing an easy to use interface for not only members but for guest shoppers also.

An easy to use one click shopping basket facility provides users the ability to choose and purchase items without getting bogged down in multiple pages of payment processing. This simple feature provides a substantial reduction in abandoned shopping baskets and invertly an increase in sales; what everyone want’s! With several successful Search Engine Optimisation techniques running throughout the site, The Camera Centre is now even easier to find.

Press Release

Local Shetland retailer The Camera Centre has just launched a new internet store with some international help.

Owner Cecil Hughson and Manager, Ben Mullay knew that to extend their business a fresh online initiative was needed. This was especially important as many of the Camera Centre’s customers are in the outer islands and don’t travel into Lerwick often. There is also a large expat community who like to order photos for delivery to relatives in Shetland.

Working with New Zealand based marketing strategists, First Retail Ltd, Canadian software developers Dakis Decision Systems Inc and Cecil’s son in law John Smith, owner of yadUK, The Camera Centre has developed a product range that includes home-wear, gifts and décor – all created using customer’s own photos.

First Retail’s Director, Chris Wilkinson knew the Camera Centre’s dilemma well. With clients in many island territories including the Channel Islands, The Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Fiji the web has been a key element in helping these businesses engage with their community.

Up until recently, many of the products needed to be sent away for production. New technology has allowed stores in remote areas to create these on-site. The Camera Centre has invested in equipment, systems and training that will ensure work can stay within the Islands. In the future it is hoped the store will also develop export markets to the mainland and beyond.

Timed to launch in the key gift giving period leading up to Christmas, the site has already proven popular. Within hours of going live, orders began to arrive. Most popular lines so far have included photo collages, coasters, placemats and mousemats.

Launched on December 4th 2009
PHP, MySQL, e-commerce, SEO

Ben Mullay is continually looking to create eye-catching and striking images to convey what is viewed through the lens. Ben’s home village of Bigton, Shetland, is the site of the famous St Ninian’s Isle, reputably the largest tombolo in Europe.

 
XHTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL
Hosted by yadUKHosting
goto site http://www.benmullay.com/

 An eCommerce site reboot before the Christmas period for a Shetland based electrical appliance servicing company specialising in the refurbishment of damaged appliances.
The Appliance Rescue site has seen a complete redesign inclusive of an online catalogue and eCommerce shopping cart facility. Specifically targeted at Shetlanders, anyone with a computer can now view and select from a range of household white goods. Payment may be made through the PayPal IPN Network with customers returned to the site after transaction.

The site utilises XHTML Transitional markup with CSS for styling and is dynamically generated using PHP Smarty templating. Administrated entirely from an intuitive back-end, the client has access to change / update their products as well as all web pages.

Overall the site has been optimised for search engines with SEO friendly URLs and adheres to the DDA: Disibility Discrimination Act 2004; viewable in a variety of browsers.

[original]
4th March 2005
Remit was a complete site redesign also to incorporate a new business logo (designed by yadUK). The logo design followed clean lines and a modern feel, to associate with electrical appliances.
This site has now been totally redone complying with XHTML 4.01 Strict and CSS industry standards.
[/original]

XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, Linux
Logo Design
Hosted by yadUKHosting
http://www.appliancerescue.co.uk

Thinking that there was a hold up at the back of the site I decided to trip around the WayBackMachine and dig up some of the original ‘turn of my hand’ development from way back yesteryear.

Here is an incarnation of the Appliance Rescue site from 2003:

http://web.archive.org/web/20031127060603/www.appliancerescue.co.uk/

NOTE: images are no longer hosted hence the ommision of elements of the website from the WayBackMachine