RE: Prior experience of successful minivend users/ learning curve

[Tim Shea <tim@valutech.net>]

******    message to minivend-users from Tim Shea <tim@valutech.net>     ******

Hi Pat,

On Tuesday, March 09, 1999 1:05 PM, mediamob [SMTP:mediamob@dnaco.net] 
wrote:
> Greetings-
>
> In reading the documentation and the postings to this list, it strikes me
> that there is a hard to describe common tone running through them that
> separtes those who get it from those who (like me) do not.

My advice would be to start with a very basic catalog, and completely 
ignore anything "optional" or "external". When you later have a pressing 
need to incorporate some of these, then research them. IMHO it just 
confuses the matter if you try and learn all of the features at the outset.

> It is a bit like the eternal "intuitive use" debate - intuitive to whom?
>
> So what I am asking is the areas in which I need to remediate in order to
> get hip to the world I'm working in. Why is it that some of you already
> know the intrinsic differences between "internal" DMB, and SQL and thier
> relative merits before you started with minivend?

I haven't yet had the need for SQL, or any other external database, 
although I have a feeling I'll be figuring this one out soon. :)

> How were you able to
> take the given examples and make full blown original catalogs?

Trial and error. Extensive digging in the documentation and mailing-list 
archives. Later, digging through the perl in mvend/lib/Vend - even though I 
don't know perl. (My experience in programming is in Pick - for over 6 
years - I didn't have but an hour's worth of html experience before 
starting my MiniVend project either.)

> What knowledge do you use that isn't in the docs?

A never-give-up attitude. I've tried hundreds of permutations of tags to 
get things to work. (Hint: When nothing else works, use 'interpolate="1"'.)

> How long did it take you to
> get that first store running from the time you installed minivend?

I would say my catalog took one month before it could be used all the way 
from index to checkout to receipt. Probably another 2 months before it went 
"live", and another month before I was reasonably satisfied with all of it. 
(Note that I'm also running a business full-time - I probably spent 10 to 
15 hours per week on MiniVend.)

Cheers,
Tim
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