Okay here it is, I need to set up a web site to sell photographs. I have the web page built already (if it makes a difference it was done in dreamweaver), and I have spoken with the folks over at ccnow (merchant account). This is where I get lost, if the web page was created in windows, do I have to have a windows nt platform? or will unix work, is there a conversion that has to be done? Since ccnow will be taken the credit card information do I need to have SSL. What other options/features should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance, Highway

Originally posted by highway_roadie
Okay here it is, I need to set up a web site to sell photographs. I have the web page built already (if it makes a difference it was done in dreamweaver), and I have spoken with the folks over at ccnow (merchant account). This is where I get lost, if the web page was created in windows, do I have to have a windows nt platform? or will unix work, is there a conversion that has to be done?


In Unix file names are case sensitive, so if in NT doesn't matter if file name is USers.hTm, in Unix it may rise error when you'll link to this page as users.htm. So better make all file names in lower case.


Since ccnow will be taken the credit card information do I need to have SSL. What other options/features should I be looking for?

Yes, you'll need it, especially if you collect users data. But as far as I know now practically all hosting providers have this.

If you are not going to be collecting any information about your customers on your site then you do not need ssl! CCNow handles the transactions on their secure servers.

Here is a thread that has aLOT of hosting companies
listed....so you may be able to visit some and at least narrow your choice down.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=3053
I do think ccnow is one of the places that does handle everything for you..more specifics should come from them.
Lots of hosting companies though have the secure certificates..and allow clients to use their server wide certificate..we do this and you will find lots of hosts that offer it for their clients.
Good Luck
and Happy Holidays :D

If your pages use any ASP code, you might have to stick to windows, or remove the ASP. Otherwise, you can use any OS you want.

Originally posted by highway_roadie
Okay here it is, I need to set up a web site to sell photographs. I have the web page built already (if it makes a difference it was done in dreamweaver), and I have spoken with the folks over at ccnow (merchant account). This is where I get lost, if the web page was created in windows, do I have to have a windows nt platform? or will unix work, is there a conversion that has to be done? Since ccnow will be taken the credit card information do I need to have SSL. What other options/features should I be looking for?

Thanks in advance, Highway

Alright, the CORRECT answers to your questions are as follows: :)

Done in Dreamweaver?
No problem. html is html whether it's on Unix or NT. Dreamweaver is about the best WYSIWYG program on the market (I use it myself) The only issue is whether you're using CGI, PHP, ASP. ASP means NT... CGI is for Unix (I think PHP is platform friendly *?*)

Do you need SSL?
No you don't, at least not for many merchant systems. The only time you'll require that is if you're going to be processing anything on YOUR site. I personally use revecom.com and don't require SSL (though I have access to it). All transactions are done on their server and no data like CC numbers are available on akashik.net at all.

Other options?
PHP, MYSql, CGI. If you want a dynamic site with a shopping cart type system you may want to look at http://www.hotscripts.com or look at a webhost that offers a system with the account (like Alacart)

If you have a lot of photos and plan on a brisk trade, diskspace and data transfer are the most serious of your needs. After all there's only so far you can compress those photos before they start to look like crap right?

That's about it as far as I can see.

Hope it helped.

Greg Moore

Personally I prefer SSL hosting on my virtual server account. yes my merchant account company does do the SSL processing on their end if I want but the user has to leave my site for a short time to process it. I do everything on my end and my users keep seeing the same thing, never leave my site.

Iknow some merchant accounts dont do this, but mine does so its just my experience. If this kind of thing matters to you I would check.

Oh and just my personal opinion, I prefer Windows NT or 2000 for my E-commerce sites. I do either Cold Fusion and ASP and it seems some of the hosting companies i have been with always seem to have "issues" with these programs on Unix boxes with the plugins.

Misty

If you used Windows constructs like ASP and Access Db's then you'll need an NT host.

If you made the site with Frontpage then assuming your host has Frontpage extensions on your server it shouldn't be too much to upload it to NT or Unix.

One thing you'll probably have to change are path names to specific system resources such as email and the Perl libraries.

Just one correction on Akashik comments. CGI is not only for unix. You can run CGI on NT as well. They will have to have perl for NT installed to make it work. Your only concern here is that if you have any specific NT programming done such as ASP or if you're using NT com objects then you will need NT. If you provide us with some specifics, I can help you more on it. But it sounds like unix might work for you. If you don't need NT then go with Unix.