Two Questions

1. When i add a character like "reg" in visual editor it adds the symbol. When I switch to code editor it adds the symbol as well, which will not show up in IE or Chrome. Only in Firefox. I have to add the reg character (&reg) in the code editor for it to be correct. This is fine until I need to go to the visual editor to make changes. It blows out all my character codes and makes them the symbol again so I have to go back to code editor and redo each one every time I make a change in visual. Am I doing something wrong?

2. Like the above, when I go between visual and code editor my title is being blown out. It can be <title>text here</title> and look alright but when I go to visual editor and then back to code editor it blows them out. All I have is <title></title>. For both questions I am saving before going between code/visual.

Any advice would be greatly helpful.

Heath

One of the 'characteristics' of the CC HTML Editor is that switching between Code and Visual editors is not advisable, since this just does not work very well! One hint for this in the current version is that the tab for the visual editor is hidden .
To avoid these unpredictable (sometimes very predictable-) code changes, you need to stick with one or the other editor tabs, - in conjunction with the preview screen.
I had exactly the same experience when I started on my site.
Here is what I would do (what I did, actually): If you are most comfortable with the Visual Editor at the moment, then use that to build the most of a particular page (but do not switch between this and the Code Editor!). Then switch to the Code Editor and use this in conjunction with the Preview, - in split-screen mode if you prefer, so you can see the effect of code changes immediately. I think you'll find - as I did - that this works very well and you'll learn a lot of HTML coding in the process!
Good luck! I'm sure you'll do just fine with the Code Editor!

that makes sense. thanks for the help

I'm trying out the trial version and I haven't used this type of HTML editor before. I understand a lot of what is going on. But on reading the manual about making your first pages I see from a screen shot that shows a visual tab - but I can only see the code and preview tab in my version. I can't find where to turn it on - is it because of the trial version?

What I don't get in this editor is where do you write your content, text etc.
You can only do this by inserting into the code. Isn't there the risk of bodging this up?

This may be a naive question to you experts but I quote from the pdf of the editor:

Step 3 from page 282 says real simple like...

When you find a theme you like,click OK.The code will be inserted into your page for you. Once the code is inserted,you can replace the generic text and images with your own,tweak elements of the code, and do whatever else you gotta do to complete your Webpage!

OK guys, where and in which tab to we do these changing of the generic text etc or if you were making your own blank?

What am I not getting? Has anyone used a shopping cart theme within the editor and if so what is the advantage, this I can't seem to understand, what do you gain by using the theme?

Appreciate someones insight.

Many tks

Martine

Isn't there a kind of WYSIWYG area to do all these things and then we switch tab for the code?

To re-enable the Visual Editor, launch the Editor and go to the Tools > Preferences > General tab. Once there, uncheck the Hide Visual tab option. That's it!

Hiya again Martine,

Unfortunately one of the things we've been hoping that CC devs will do is add the WYSIWYG / CODE feature that allows you to do it either way at the same time, as well as click sensative areas where you can click in CODE area and it will highlight the Visual area, and the same thing the other way around. So far I don't think we've convinced them of that importance yet hehe.

Other than that, you can use the Visual editor of the HTML Editor, but you cannot really swap between them without messing up your pages as mentioned above by Bruzer so you need to choose one way or the other. The other drawback to this is that the HTML Editor's Visual tab is not really that good. If you're really needing more of a Visual setup than Code setup I would suggest you try the Visual Site Editor program that CC has available. There are lots of people that use that one and swear by it so I'll take their word for it that it's a good program.

As for the Code vs. Visual, I would say Code always wins the "risk" factor award as you can always see what your site code is doing and should be doing and much better control. Course I'm a coder for HTML so I've grown quite used to it lol.

As for the editing of the theme, the steps you outlined in your post are pretty complete and explain it pretty well, but what they don't explain is how to do this to the new person that doesn't know much HTML so let me try to clarify those areas.

1. When you choose a theme it's basically when you start a site or project. If you have not done so and already started a site, then I would suggest you restart a new site with a theme chosen, and then insert your changes into the new site. Once you start your site all the code will then be in the editor for you to edit how you see fit. This is not a visual editor so you'll have to seek and find where things are located if you're unfamiliar with HTML. If you're familiar with it a bit it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's what.

TIP: Once you start a site project, you've already told it where to save that project on your computer so go to that location and see all your files for your site. This helps you know what's what in the code as you can see all the graphic file names and can find them more easily in the code. Also you can see the dimensions of the graphics if they haven't been added to the code (which most of the time they have been). And you can open any of the files it's created to see what they are also.

For the most part you are basically editing the code to tell it what you want it to display. If you're not familiar with HTML at all, there are a lot of sites out there that will help you with tutorials and free classes etc to help you learn it better. Or just dig in and see what happens which is always fun too!

For the SCC themes that go with the HTML themes, the advantage is that you don't have to do all the graphic placements for the theme as you would if you started one from scratch, and all the graphics are provided to match your shop and already in the right proportions for your site pages. The layout is already setup also which saves a whole lot of time. Basically it's a major time saver for the most part.

Not sure how much help this was, but hopefully it explains a bit on where to find things after you create a site.

Jo Ann

Once again real thanks for firstly taking the time to answer and concisely.
It's always a bit daunting when posting to a forum of experienced users as you run the risk of looking like a complete nerd (for want of a better word).

It's good to know that what I thought should be a norm in the prorgamme is something that you think needs to be there!

I'm going to restart editor and find my visual tab and see what goes on - my darling other half says he remembers trying out the CC editor a couple of yeas ago and found it a bit disfunctional, and uses Composer - or at the moment the very basic Facebook editor for notes!

I see what you are getting at with the themes so I'm off to find my credit card and buy a few things.

Funny I downloaded the Visual site and wondered if that would be better for me. The question is do I really need then the SCD Pro?

If we were near by a send you a bottle of wine for your input.
I'm a desperate winemaker trying to set up our online wine shop for sales from the UK. I've set a goal for monday to go live. Keep fingers crossed, although I just feel I;m going to have problems with the shipping options.

More on that over the weekend me thinks.

Stay tuned ---and thanks
Martine

Hiya Martine,

No problem, that's what I'm here for, and believe me I don't exaggerate when I say it's paying back all those that helped me over the years in here too so I don't mind at all.

Your question about the SCD Pro, I would say, Yes, if you're planning to use the SCC for your shop and plan to tweak any of the themes to any great detail. There are quite a few options in the Pro version that are not available in the Basic version of SCD and for a difference of another 40 bux and never having to pay another fee to upgrade it, it's well worth the cost.
DO keep in mind that each of these programs has specific tasks and they don't play together (in other words you can't edit themes for SCC in other programs other than the SCD or SCD Pro. And you can't edit themes for VSD in other programs such as HTML editor or SCD (or Pro). Each program is essentially it's own personality. SCD (and Pro) go ONLY with the SCC and nothing else, you can't edit any other program themes with it so it's definitely needed if you plan to alter themes at all for SCC.

VSD has it's own themes also, so before you go spending your cash on HTML themes be sure which program you plan to use first as they are not the same for both programs. Each one has a different type of setup for theming and they aren't compatible with the other programs.

Personally I can't tell you which program is better either HTML Editor or Visual Site Designer, but from what it sounds like, you may be well off checking out the VSD to see how you like it as it's much more of a WYSIWYG editor and totally visual (with the ability to insert HTML, FLASH and JAVA codes in it too).

Hopefully that helped

It certainly did. I got the visual tab on. Still don't think I should have to search for something basic like this. But I;ve just played around a little and think WOW, I've wasted a day without getting anything really done. Perhaps that's not right, I've learnt a few things.

This must be one of the few forums that I've got concise intructions on how to rectify things. Thank you so much.

Here in Greece it's coming up to midnight, and I'm calling it a day as I want to have a fresh start and really cover some ground tomorrow.

I'm thinking about what to get. I've already got the SCD Pro.

Tomorrow morning with a clear head!

Night to you all.

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