The site is back up. Textpattern has been upgraded to the latest version – something I’d been putting off for years, because the site is old and large and I was nervous – and the shop plugin is installed.
So I’ve been working through the setup instructions: turning off the payment methods I don’t need, pointing the plugin at the right URLs, creating the email templates that will notify me, and my customer, when an order comes in.
Those email notifications matter to me. The shop I’m building doesn’t take payment automatically. Instead, when someone places an order, I get an email, and I write to them directly to arrange payment. Bank transfer, Wise, whatever suits. It’s a bit more friction than clicking “buy now” and being done with it – but that friction is deliberate.
My grandfather had a shop. A newsagent, I think (not sure). People would come in and he would say hello. That’s not a bad model. As much as possible, I want my online shop to feel like that.
I’ve also created my first proper product pages – two limited edition Magnolia prints, each with its own URL, image, and description. Except: when I click “view” on either of them, I don’t get a single product page. I get a page showing multiple articles. Something in the way I’ve built this isn’t right yet. I don’t know what. (This is normal. This is how it goes.)
I’ve written to Stef – who built the plugin and has been extraordinarily patient – with a full account of where I’ve got to. And I ended with the question I most want answered: is it doable to have one product visibly for sale in something that actually looks like a shop by the end of March?
I think it probably is. I’m choosing to think it is.
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