Actinic Business 7

Actinic's 'Web shop in a box' has been around for some time. Version 7 comes in four levels: Catalog, Business, Developer and Order Manager. They all look and work in the same way, varying only in the facilities they offer. Catalog (£379) is a cut-down version, and Developer (£1,249) has extensions for further customisation of the look of the generated sites. Order Manager (£149) is a support product that allows the user to handle and process orders, but it can't build or maintain a website. Actinic Business enables the user to build a fully functioning e-commerce website without having to wade into the HTML. It does this by storing the user's information in a database and then generating a mixture of static web pages and Perl scripts that are automatically uploaded to a designated web server.

Actinic connects to a wide range of Internet payment providers, configured by a simple drop-down menu. It also 'closes the loop' by providing a versatile order/invoice processing system, which will link to Sage accounts. This previously optional module is now included in the Business version, as is the ability to sell downloadable products.

Order processing has been enhanced: you can now enter orders directly into the system and adjust existing web-placed orders. Minimum order levels can now be set, as well as forcing web customers to agree to terms and conditions by clicking on an 'I agree' button. The ability to highlight orders in different colours has been added, so those requiring attention are instantly identifiable.

Actinic has spent a lot of time and effort on the various discount and VAT configurations that it can handle, and the flexibility is excellent. With version 7, the discount structure has been extended. Not only can you now have discounts limited by time for those special offers, but you can also do 'three for the price of two' discounts or 'spend £100 and get this item free' incentives. Coupon-related discounts are also possible, where the web user enters a code to receive a discount on an item. Surcharges can now be levied on certain payment types, as the law now allows merchants to do this.

Perhaps the most noticeable improvements have been in the user interface. A three-pane system means it's easier to see how the data you enter will affect your website. You now have a much better idea where products will appear on the site rather than the previous 'enter data then click on preview' system. You can switch to other views, though, as this is a little more processor hungry than the classic view.

When entering a product you can now create a duplicate product. This is a linked item, so that the same product (with the same stock level) can appear in several places on your website. You might, for instance, have an ink cartridge that's displayed in the section Ink Cartridges, but you could also now display it for sale alongside the printer. Any changes made to one instance updates the other.

A product can now have links to other products or technical pages - so a printer could also link to leads, paper and other consumables. They're all ways of improving the customer experience, as well as selling more products. Another new feature is Fragments; these are like products, but instead of pricing information and a 'buy now' button, they just have a description with an optional image, so you can put promotional information or an advert on the same page as the products.

On a more technical front, Actinic has replaced the mailto: links with a link to a web form. This stops spam-crawlers hoovering up email addresses from your website. Most mail servers are now set up so that they won't allow email to be sent through them without authorisation; this is known as relaying. Previously, Actinic had no way of supplying a username and password to an SMTP mail server; this omission has now thankfully been fixed. In fact, the whole email section has had an overhaul and it's now much easier to manage and edit the email templates.