# TTG Mal's E-Commerce Gallery BETA



## theturninggate (May 13, 2008)

I've constructed a LR Web module template around Mal's E-Commerce, to which I was directed by resident forum superstar Victoria Bampton. The service is free and seemingly template-friendly in implementation. It also offers a plethora of payment options, including PayPal and many others.

I'm now beta releasing TTG Mal's E-Commerce Gallery for testing in order to collect some hands-on feedback.

Users will need to register at Mal's and setup their shopping carts there. In the Web module, load the template and be sure to fill in all of the Shopping Cart Settings -- they're essential for the exported template to function.

I've posted a test gallery on my site. You may play, but don't complete a transaction unless you want me to keep your money. (Actually, if someone would like to send me a dollar so that I can test a full transaction, that would be educational; PayPal doesn't allow me to send funds to myself).

Please share any feedback on the project, and remember rule number five.

Cheers,
Matt


----------



## Victoria Bampton (May 13, 2008)

Very nicely done Matt!!!  I am well impressed!!  I'll download the gallery in a while to have a play, but it's looking really promising!

The nice thing is that Mal's backend is FREE and offers a load of payment options, including just collecting card details to run through your own machine manually.  And of course PayPal, NoChex and a whole host of other payment options too.


----------



## Denis Pagé (May 13, 2008)

Nice! But I noticed that the box containing the landscape image (bottom right) does not align vertically (being lower) with the one at bottom left. Was looking with Internet Explorer 7.


----------



## theturninggate (May 13, 2008)

I see what you mean, Denis. I hadn't gotten so far as testing in it browsers yet. Seems to be an issue with various elements sticking out through their boundaries, and subsequent elements trying to arrange themselves around them. Probably something an overflow setting could fix ... maybe.


----------



## theturninggate (May 13, 2008)

IE7 is EVIL.

I've just identified and fixed an issue with IE6 display, but the problem with IE7 is the epitome of bizarre. I even tried Aardvark, and can't come up with any reason that it should be doing that. There are no offending elements extending their bounds as I'd first suspected, and no other reason I can see that things shouldn't be lining up ... Grrr.

If there are any IE7 gurus out there with a clue ... Help?


----------



## theturninggate (May 15, 2008)

So, it's been a few days and not much talk here. Has anyone gotten to try this yet? Does it seem to be working the way it's supposed to? Is there anything it's doing wrong, or not doing that you'd like it to? Does this seem a reasonable way to handle shopping from Lightroom?


----------



## Victoria Bampton (May 15, 2008)

Sorry Matt, crazy busy here.  It's on a to do list.....

I've just posted it on another forum of pro photographers to see if we can find you a few more testers!


----------



## theturninggate (May 15, 2008)

Cool. Thanks, Victoria.


----------



## joe savitch (May 15, 2008)

matt i have played with the new e-commerce gallery a bit and have some questions about the setup:

under the shopping cart setup it says server name http://ww#.aitsafe.com is that something that shouldn't be changed or do i need to register with http://www.mals-e.com/ and put that info in? then do i point the url to my server or to his?

the rest of it looks super super cool and being able to pull up images side by side is a request i have heard from a few clients.

2 questions, is it possible to put images into sections with this, i.e grouping portraits, reception, ceremony or is it all one big gallery?  also is it possible to add more products i generally list 7-8 now

thanks,
-joe


----------



## Victoria Bampton (May 15, 2008)

Hey Joe, welcome to Lightroom Forums!

The http://ww#.aitsafe.com will be replaced with a server number (http://ww1'.aitsafe.com etc) which you'll be sent when you register with Mal's.  If it's any help, I wrote up suggested settings for Mal's when I created a Photoshop scripted shopping cart a while back - you can download the instructions from http://www.victoriabampton.com/downloads/webgallery4/web-gallery-v4-instructions.pdf - skip the script setup instructions, and go find the Mal's cart setup section at about page 4 for a few hints and tips (marked in red).


----------



## theturninggate (May 15, 2008)

Joe,

The server name will be assigned to you when you sign-up with Mal's, as Victoria explains. The current version of the gallery supports just five products, but I couldn't add more if users want them.


----------



## DonRicklin (May 15, 2008)

theturninggate said:


> Joe,
> 
> The current version of the gallery supports just five products, but I couldn't add more if users want them.


Why not.....:?:








Just kidding, knew what you meant!:!:

Don


----------



## jheartland (May 16, 2008)

Hi Matt,

I've been following and using your other templates and thought I'd be right in line for this one.  But, I've decided to go with a conventional credit card processing site (Zenfolio) for my print fulfillment.  My clients are not paypal savvy and I'm losing sales.  I think I might offer PayPal/self fulfillment as an option in the future, but for now I'm going the Zenfolio route.  I'll be playing with your galleries but I can't offer the same feedback that I was for the other templates.

Chris


----------



## Tim Armes (May 19, 2008)

theturninggate said:


> So, it's been a few days and not much talk here. Has anyone gotten to try this yet? Does it seem to be working the way it's supposed to? Is there anything it's doing wrong, or not doing that you'd like it to? Does this seem a reasonable way to handle shopping from Lightroom?



I've been having a look at Mals.  My problem with it is that the free Paypal integration isn't that good.  The whole cart is passed as one item, and if you cancel at the PayPal stage the item remains registered with Mal's.

I'd really like to see a version using PayPal's shopping cart.  It seems to be easy to do, you just need to generate a PayPal "Buy now" button instead.

Tim


----------



## theturninggate (May 19, 2008)

A good point, Tim. I hadn't noticed that particular issue. Once I get this sorted out further, I might have a look at the PayPal stuff and try to put together an alternative gallery.


----------

