More opportunities
Web catalog navigation problems
If your company manages a
Web catalog, you may know that navigation
through a branching Web catalog may cause
difficulties because of a noticeable loading
time of each page. In order to reach the
description of a required product, the user
should view several intermediate pages. During
lengthy work with a Web catalog, such delays on
each step can become serious obstacles to quick
search and selection of the required products.
Work with a catalog can be
optimized,
if one uses a tool that allows to:
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easily navigate through the catalog tree |
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easily expand or collapse the catalog tree or any its branch quickly browse
to any product description |
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mark any items in the catalog and view the list of the marked items |
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search through the whole catalog or any its branch prepare a reports from
the marked items and save it on the disk in compact form |
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view the descriptions of different products simultaneously |
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work with the catalog offline |
The solution that we are offering provides all the
features listed above. It will simplify and
speed up work with your catalog for the site
visitors — by minimizing routine operations and
making the catalog navigation easier. It will
really help the users get around your catalog.
What is our solution?
Our solution is based on the compact and quickly downloadable
Catalog Explorer. It is a fast catalog tree navigator, which has
convenient tools for searching, viewing, browsing, and exporting
products descriptions.
The main distinguishing feature of our software
solution is its incredibly small size combined
with rich functionality. Based on Web
technology, it can work:
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As independent standalone application, which works with a local products
database. In this case, both the program and the data are downloaded
to the user's PC for working with the catalog off-line. |
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As on-line service, which opens as a Web page and gets the products' information
on the fly directly from the remote catalog database located
on the server. |
How does it work?
Both the remote and the local databases, accessed by
Catalog Explorer, contain the product
information in a compact form — as textual or
tabular data. The absence of graphics enables
high-speed data exchange between the database
and Catalog Explorer. Each product's description
contains an active links to the original Web
catalog's pages, which allows to easily access
the full product information when needed.
Thus,
Catalog Explorer combines high effectiveness
with easy navigation and fast access to big
volumes of product information.
Depending on
the location of the database, Catalog Explorer
can use different
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program launching ways |
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database access methods |
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data exchange algorithms |
Working with the catalog offline
For off-line work
with the catalog, the users download Catalog
Explorer from the site and install it on their
machines. At its first start, the program
downloads via Internet either the full catalog
or its specified part. Thanks to the small size
of the application and the compact format of
data storage, both Catalog Explorer and the
products database download quite fast.
Later, the program can trace the server-side
catalog database changes, and it can update the
local database with the changes that were made
since the last update.
Preparation of data
for downloading and database synchronization is
carried out by the server-side part of Catalog
Explorer. After the database update, the user
works with the local data, which is always
available without Internet connection.
In a
simple case — for example, for catalog
distribution over the Internet, or by diskettes
or CDs — the Catalog Explorer and all its data
can be distributed in a single installation
pack.
Working with the remote
catalog
When working with
the remote database, Catalog Explorer runs
directly from your server as a simple Web page
without any extra downloads. In this case,
Catalog Explorer interacts with its counterpart
running on the server. The server side module
connects to the catalog database, smartly
prepares the data, and intellectually transmits
it in batches to Catalog Explorer, providing the
fast response.
Customer benefits
Using
Catalog Explorer is similar to using Microsoft
Windows Explorer. Users can easily navigate
through the catalog tree, quickly look through
the product descriptions, easily find the needed
products, and, importantly, open the original
Web catalog pages.
Just a few minutes for
downloading, and the user has all information
about your products represented in a suitable
form.
It means that the users can:
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better find their ways around your catalog |
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quicker find the desired products |
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learn and probably get detailed information about more of your products
— the ones they did not have time to view in the Web catalog
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always keep your catalog handy and share the catalog with their colleagues
and friends |
And at the same time, every item of
such catalog contains the link to the original
page of your Web catalog; therefore the users
never lose contact with your site.
Using our
solution is also another occasion to advertise
your logo and the company name, which can be
placed on the Programs submenu of the Windows
Start menu.
Choosing the right
solution
Off-line work with the
catalog requires some time for downloading the
catalog data . The amount of time needed for
downloading depends on the number of products in
the catalog, the size of the products'
descriptions, and the time that elapsed since
the last database update. However, after the
download, both the program and the data are
stored on the user's PC. Thus, Catalog Explorer
works completely independently, connecting only
with the local products database.
Data from
the full catalog or from any its branch can be
saved to the local disk as a separate database,
sent by e-mail, or exported to a database of
different format. Some of these operations
require special filters, which can be shipped
with the program or developed to specific
requirements.
Remote online work does not
require data pre-loading; therefore, such
solution is especially suitable for large
catalog databases. In this case, Catalog
Explorer opens very quickly, and the user can
see the catalog tree and work with the catalog
right away. When Catalog Explorer runs, the
database data is downloaded in portions,
providing for fast response and
user-friendliness.
What can we do for You?
To begin with, you must choose which one
of the two solutions — offline Catalog Explorer
or online service — is more suitable for your
needs. After that, we will adapt Catalog
Explorer for working with the specific format of
your database and develop all necessary software
components (database converter, server-side
application, data synchronization module, etc.)
to meet your specific needs.
You can familiarize yourself with our technology by using the Catalog
Explorer prototype — our program called myFavorites,
which is available on our site for free downloading.
We will be glad to see you among our customers!
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