Perch for use with Softpress Freeway

Brian,

Perch can handle both of your requirements. I am not sure what Freeway is, but by the looks of things its basically a template creation engine. If you are able to add PHP code to your Freeway Templates, then Perch will be able to handle this.

Perch never modifies your html, all that is required is the ability to add perch regions to your html, and you have a working CMS.

So, I am pretty sure you've come to the right place.

RK

Brian,

If you could post a small example of freeway, even if it's a screenshot that would help us (me) to understand freeway better then that would be great.

Also let me know a little about the development flow, then I can better understand and assist.

RK

Thanks very much Robert. Freeway is web design software made by softpress (https://www.softpress.com). They recently announced closing their doors but seems to be in the process of being rescued. In any event I've been using it for about 7 or 8 years and have made sites with it, samples: www.canmat.org www.inflightwarningsystems.com www.staugustineschurch.ca The software suits me fine, as I can do minor coding when required but it's largely a drag and drop system for designers and developers alike. But aqs I said, I've never been faced with the need for visitors' registration or ecommerce. I once added a paypal button to a site which was fairly easy, but this new site will need the ability to accept people's credit card information. That's probably the most daunting part for me. Also I'm guessing that having visitors register will require the creation and management of some type of database? But hopefully you can clarify these things for me. The last interesting thing for me is, although not required for this new site I need to build, is providing clients with their own content management of sites I build. I've steered them away from it in the past, and just did updates myself for them for a low cost. But if Perch can handle that too, it's a bonus!

Perch has you covered. Perch Shop will handle the payment and registration which is a bit more then you need, but that’s ok, I use it on one sit that sells just 1 product and it’s great for the client. Allowing your clients to manage the content is awesome and you set their level of control, so this way you can do some things, and they can do others. Everything in Perch is template driven, so client doesn’t need to know a bit of code. Perch does use a database but outside of creating the database, Perch will setup all the tables and have you going in a simple (3) step setup which is again all automatic with Perch.

When your ready to give it a whirl, I suggest you start with xampp or mamp on your dev machine at home/office and perch will allow you to do this testing and dev without having to pay, then once your ready to go live, you pay for the license and copy to the production server.

If you get stuck along the way, come on back here and myself and the many developers will be happy to answer your questions and provide code samples if required. There is also a group of Perch Registered Developers @ https://grabaperch.com/developers who can help you if you feel the first setup is a bit much, then you will quickly have a working example which to learn from too.

Welcome to the Perch Family. Remember there is always Perch Runway for large sites and every customer flys “First Class” on “Perch Airlines”... (of course that’s my line, and there isn’t really an airline of this name)... lol

Thanks again Robert. It sounds very good... but you lost me on "xampp" and "mamp". I have no idea what those are. I think doing the demo version of Perch is the way to go, but I'm still unclear about what I'll need to be able to do outside of perch. You did mention a database, which I assume is how I would keep track of user names and passwords. Does Perch allow the creation of the database or will I need to go completely outside to some other solution to build/manage the database? As far as online payment, it sound from your last email that there is nothing I'll need outside of perch to collect payment from people's credit cards? Sorry if I'm a little slower than many of your clients... but these 2 things are well outside my area of experience.

xampp and MAMP are (2) ways to run a development version of your site on your home/office pc before uploading to the web, these are not required, they just allow you to develop and test before deploying to the public internet... but as you are not familiar with these, I get the sense you develop in a live site... and thats OK, but not the ideal setup as it means you have the ability to totally break the site while performing updates and changes... but we are here and will help you when the time is right to set up a dev environment... :)

Database, You have to setup a database on your hosting account which Perch will connect to automatically (through settings you will provide) and thats where Perch will store data about itself, and the data from sales once all that is setup. Online payment will be handled through whoever you use, Paypal, Stripe etc... but Perch Will do the handoff to process the payment then record the results and create a record of orders.

A run through the demo should help you to understand how Perch works, then when your ready to try yourself it might be best if you contact one of the Registered Developers https://grabaperch.com/developers to just setup your first perch, and install the shop app... after that this forum can help you through the minor stuff if you get stuck.

Feel free to ask more Q's...