Software Review: Web Catalog Authoring Software
By Alyson Behr
iCAT 3.0
This product (tested in beta) is the third iteration of iCat Corporation’s iCat Commerce Publisher, and according to the company, represents almost an 80% re-write over 2.0. It’s designed for experienced merchants, ISPs and Web developers who specialize in creating and maintaining large volume, complex catalogs with a primary focus on the sale of merchandise. iCat 3.0 is available in 2 editions: the Professional Edition, which we looked at for this article, and the Standard Edition, which doesn’t include as many customized Templates or the advanced ICL. It also isn’t available for as many platforms.
iCat will run on Windows 95 with the recommended 24 MB of RAM, Windows NT 3.5 and 4.0 using a minimum of 32 MB of RAM; both need 60 MB of free disk space for a full install. It’s also available for Sun Solaris with Sun SPARC running Solaris 2.4/2.5 and SGI IRIX, IRIX 5.3/6.2. Each needs 64 MB of RAM, and requires 300 MB for installation and 50 MB per catalog. iCat runs on Macintosh O/S as well and suggests 24 MB RAM with 2(that what it says!) free MB on the Hard Disk. This wide range of platform availability, together with the fact that iCat supports Java, Shockwave and streaming video makes 3.0 an attractive choice.
User Documentation included a Kick-start section, installation notes, known bugs and issues disclosures, a Tutorial and User Guide which promised us speed and ease with our experience. Unfortunately, pages had been collated into Chapter 4 that were notated at the bottom to be in Chapter 3, and so forth, in several places. Since the pages were unbound, as is perfectly acceptable for beta paperwork, the misnaming significantly added to the risk of losing proper pagination when being used. Additionally, we found the instructions to be directed toward users with a fair amount of prior database construction experience, and rather sketchy when they came to specific "How to" types instructional content that you would find useful to your learning process. The material was, however, very good at describing the product and its primary components. Technical support was more than helpful when we called their toll-free number to request assistance.
Figure 3 The iCat Carbo Server is opened from within the Data Entry Manager.
iCat’s main components include the Data Entry Manager, a standalone application that runs on your workstation and is used to create and amend merchandise databases that will be used in iCat Publisher. The iCat Carbo Server (See figure 3) is opened from within the Data Entry Manager. iCat Publisher creates and manages the site catalogs. Finally, iCat provides a basic HTML text editor which includes a syntax checker for their Carbo Commands Language, a predefined set of Templates and Plug-ins.
This is not a tool that you can expect your programmers to learn overnight, and it requires a working knowledge of database "basics." The manufacturer offers 3 day classes at a cost of $1,750 per person to speed up the learning curve.
We chose to use the Carbo server, and thus began our project by re-working our database into a "Tagged Text" database in Excel, which we imported into Database Entry Manager. The server can be set to automatically run each time Manager is opened which is helpful.
Next, we opened Publisher, which displays inside your favorite browser, and selected the New Catalog link from underneath the Catalog Manager Image and gave our catalog a name. The next requirement was to designate our database. You can use Data Entry Manager or choose another ODBC database by entering the DSN, database name, user name and a password for the staging catalog. Update this information, the program takes you back to the main screen and you’re ready to go. All the options are now available for selection.
You can go into Catalog Manager to modify your set-up and publish your data; Database Manager to edit items, promotions or update your database; Sales Manager to review orders, customers and track orders; or the Set-Up Manager to set up items, databases or your license. The Template Manager determines layout, Plug-ins and interfaces. Sites are stored in a Webdocs file and may be viewed in their HTML form through the iCat Editor or your favorite HTML browser.
Figure 4 The Database Manager provides wizards for easy database setup.
ICat’s Database Manager (See Figure 4) is very well organized and provides you with a way to facilitate almost every management option you can think of. This feature set is what makes iCat 3.0 really shine.
The Layout Set-Up give you 13 different presentation choices which have varying degrees of complexity, means of transacting business and organizing your merchandise. iCat’s Interface Set-Up gives the catalog its visual, or graphic appeal and you need to choose one of the templates provided or create your own. We felt that these templates could have been more creative and wish we had a wider range of choice.
iCat uses Staging and Live versions of your catalog, drawing on the same data which is in the staging database, template, section and transaction options you chose, to run in different locations and use different runtime options. The Staging catalog provides a local preview prior to publishing on a remote server. You can check everything for function and appearance in different browsers and make eleventh-hour changes. The Live catalog is the finished product and runs on your Internet server. All the data in the catalog’s staging database is transferred to the catalog’s live ODBC base.
Financial transactions and security options are available through Cybercash, CheckFree and Open Market. You specify these in the Transaction options section of the Catalog Set Up, however, each of these methods require separate software and business relationships with the security vendor. To utilize Open Market, you must choose one of the Templates that specifies compatibility.
iCat 3.0 Electronic Commerce Suite 3.0 Professional Edition is priced at $9,995 while the Standard Edition runs $3,495. By the time you read this, final versions will be on the shelf.
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