The way the demo parameter behaves has changed. The demo parameter can be passed to the purchase routine with 2 values: Y for demo mode or N for live sales mode. Now when you pass this parameter in with a value, that value is “Locked In” until the session is cleared by ending the sale or manually clearing the browser’s cache and cookies. This means that if a vendor passes in demo=N it is not possible to change it to a demo purchase once the customer has reached the 2Checkout page. Changing the URL to read demo=Y and reloading the URL will have no effect. Same goes for passing in Y. You will not be able to remove or edit the value.

If the demo parameter is not passed into the purchase routine you will be in live sales mode. Your purchase session will not be “locked in” to any mode so it would be possible to add the demo parameter, reload the URL and change the sales mode.

You can also turn the demo parameter on and off using the Demo Settings inside of your 2Checkout account. More information on how to do this can be found here.

When using the Demo feature for testing purposes, please be certain to clear the cookies in your browser between tests to ensure the new account settings have been applied. For more information on clearing the cookies please click here.

Thank you to everyone who has provided their advice and recommendations for the new 2CO affiliate program so far.

Our developers have been working on the new affiliate program and are now ready to release a limited invite-only beta.

If you would like to participate in this beta program, please send an email to affiliatebeta@2co.com with the following information:

subject: Affiliate Beta
name: your name
SID: your 2CO supplier id
Would you like to offer commissions on your products? Yes/No
Would you like to earn commissions on others’ products? Yes/No

We will be contacting the first round of beta participants over the course of the following week.

Many of our suppliers have asked if they can customize their Plug and Play purchase links. This article will demonstrate an easy way to do so.

Below is an example of part of an HTML Snippet we may provide. This snippet can be found in the ‘Set Up Products’ section of your account by clicking the ‘HTML’ link for the appropriate product:

<a href="https://www.2checkout.com/2co/buyer/purchase?sid=11&quantity=1&product_id=4"> PRODUCT NAME </a>


Once a supplier has copy and pasted this auto-generated code into their site, it will appear like this to a web browser:

PRODUCT NAME

Using the auto-generated code as a starting point, we can simply remove the link text and replace it with the HTML code for an image:

<a href="https://www.2checkout.com/2co/buyer/purchase?sid=11&quantity=1&product_id=4"><img src="XXXXXX” alt=”PRODUCT NAME”></a>

Please make sure that you replace “XXXXXX” with a link to the desired purchase image hosted on your site, “PRODUCT NAME” with your actual product name or other appropriate text and “11″ with your own 2CO supplier ID.

This is the third part of our ongoing series of site-building resources. Today we’ll be focusing on website statistics and graphics/design resources.

Statistics

• Crazy Egg - hosted statistic package with a variety of visualization options
• tapefailure - hosted statistic package with a variety of visualization options
• Mint - self-hosted, extensible web statistics
• AWStats - powerful free and open source log analyser

Graphics/Design

• PhotoshopCandy.com (formerly Photoshopit) - free Photoshop tutorials and templates
• iStockphoto - royalty free stock photos and illustrations
• Webdesigners Toolkit - free Photoshop browser templates
• Shutterstock.com - royalty-free stock photos
• Planet Photoshop - Photoshop tutorials
• Color Matters - color theory
• 24 ways - “24 ways to impress your friends”
• Font Tester - preview typefaces
• Color Jack - color theory and swatch palettes
• Open Source Web Design - free web design templates

Do you have a website statistics and graphics/design recommendation you would like to share? Please tell us about it in the comments.

Related Articles:

• Resource Links (Part 1) - Site-building Tools and HTML/CSS
• Resource Links (Part 2) - PHP and Javascript
• Resource Links (Part 4) - Business/Financial
• Resource Links (Part 5) - Design/Usability

This is the second part of our ongoing series of site-building resources. Today we’ll be focusing on PHP and Javascript.

PHP

• PHP.net - “PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML.”
• W3Schools’ PHP Tutorial - This site was previously listed in Resource Links (Part 1) for HTML/CSS
• PHP Object Generator - “PHP Object Generator, (POG) is an open source
  PHP code generator which automatically generates clean & tested Object Oriented code for your PHP4/PHP5 application.”
• Smarty - PHP template engine that helps separate application code from presentation.

Javascript

• W3Schools’ Javascript Tutorial - This site was previously listed in Resource Links (Part 1) for HTML/CSS
• Core JavaScript 1.5 Reference - “provides reference material for the core JavaScript language”
• quirksmode.org - quirksmode.org’s online companion to ppk on JavaScript
• script.aculo.us - “script.aculo.us provides you with easy-to-use, cross-browser user interface JavaScript libraries to make your web sites and web applications fly.”
• MooTools - “MooTools is a compact, modular, Object-Oriented JavaScript framework designed for the intermediate to advanced JavaScript developer. It allows you to write powerful, flexible, and cross-browser code with its elegant, well documented, and coherent API.”
• The mooWalkthrough - “… a step -by step guide with examples, tips, a maybe a few secrets, for the Javascript Framework Mootools.”
• The “Mootorial” - a MooTools tutorial

Do you have a site-building or PHP or Javascript recommendation you would like to share? Please tell us about it in the comments.

Related Articles:

• Resource Links (Part 1) - Site-building Tools and HTML/CSS
• Resource Links (Part 3) - Statistics and Graphics/Design
• Resource Links (Part 4) - Business/Financial
• Resource Links (Part 5) - Design/Usability