who doesn't love a logo?

I spent some time today helping a client debug problems she was having with OpenCart.  OpenCart is an open source PHP based shopping cart / product catalog.  You can buy a “commercial” version which gets you support, or for the savvy web nerd, you can wing it on your own.

As some of you out there may know, there’s lots of ways for your ecommerce solution to let you down, plenty of tiny little things to break, and lots of details to get right for it to work.  Here’s some tricks we figured out with OpenCart today:

• Shopping cart dies when the customer tries to check out.

Problem: The customer finishes filling in his billing/shipping order, hits submit and the site dies, nothing but a blank screen with a crazy error message.  What gives?  Well, if you are running OpenCart 1.4.7 and using UPS for shipping you’re seeing a bug.  UPS is generating an error message that OpenCart can’t handle and it dies.

Solution: Upgrade to OpenCart 1.4.8.  This is a known bug and they’ve fixed it.  You can get the new software here.  Upgrade installation instructions are here.  After you get this installed, OpenCart will actually show the error message from UPS instead of crashing.

• OpenCart tells you the shopping cart is empty when you go to check out.

Problem: Your customer puts items in their shopping cart.  When they click “checkout” OpenCart complains that their cart is empty!  What gives!

Solution: This is a problem with cookies.  Apparently some web hosts will force your browser to make a distinction between http://yourstore.com and https://yourstore.com.  That means, by default your customer’s shopping is saved in a cookie at http://yourstore.com, then when they try to check out and your shopping cart switches to encrypted SSL mode at https://yourstore.com suddenly there’s an empty cookie with no products!  The simplest solution to this is to force OpenCart to use https:// for everything.  Two steps for doing that:

1) A small code edit, instructions here.  NOTE: these are current for OpenCart 1.4.8. Other versions? Your milage may vary.  Keep a backup.

2) Go into your OpenCart admin screen.  Go to System -> Settings -> Store URL.  Set that URL to https://example.com instead of http://example.com

• “Oregon is not a valid state” – maddening!  Even after we fixed the problems above, the cart was still kicking out crazy messages after the customer entered their shipping/billing info.

Problem: The OpenCart administration screens lack error checking.  It’s completely up to you to read the instructions carefully and enter the right thing into the form fields.

Solution: In the Administration section under Extensions -> Shipping -> UPS -> Origin State/Province … the form will allow you to enter whatever you type there, BUT our friends at UPS will generate an error message if they don’t like what you typed, and error message which you may find confusing because it only shows up on checkout.  This field only works if you enter the proper two character abbreviation

Now, bright students will notice these are cascading errors.  You fix one and you find there was another one you hadn’t seen.  Next week’s problem?  Why her PayPal transactions won’t complete.

Stay Tuned…

p.s. another super-secret clue for debugging ecommerce problems? Test credit card numbers.

The Oregonian came down for the 2010 Mondo Croquet World Championships.

For those of you who weren’t there, we played for seven hours and had a mighty fine time.

You can experience the photo archive on the Mondo Croquet site.

Also, The Oregonian sent a reporter and on 7/26/2010 they published a fine review of the experience.  Click here to read and enjoy.

Tiki:Mojo client Jack Pollock is showing some of his Tiki art at Elroy Artspace for the month of August.

He’s part of the Atomic Tiki show put together for our friends at Tiki Kon 2010.

If you’re a Tiki fan, or just Tiki-curious you’ll enjoy this gallery show.

The opening is August 5th, 5-9 pm.

Elroy Artspace
1720 NW Lovejoy #103

Jack Pollock, Artist

Every year we host the Mondo Croquet World Championships and Mad Hatter Picnic.

We’ve been doing this since 1996 and along the way we’ve been chosen as Best of Portland by Willamette Week!

What is Mondo Croquet? Simple – Croquet, American style with bowling balls and sledgehammers!  Best of all, it’s darn good fun.

• When: July 25th, High Noon until about 4pm
• Where: North Park Blocks by the Elephant statues
• What to bring: Yourself and your sense of fun

How to prepare yourself:

• If you have a bowling ball or sledgehammer, bring it along.  If you don’t we have plenty to lend out.  We’ve never run short.
• It’s likely to be hot.  Bring something cool to drink.  You may wish to enjoy a lawn chair.
• It’s also the Mad Hatter Picnic – bring a snack to share!
• For maximum fun it’s recommended to dress appropriately in traditional lawn whites (see here) or appropriately inappropriate in something unusual yet fitting for a Mad Hatter Picnic.  Let the Mondo Croquet photo archives be your guide: http://www.mondocroquet.com

Above all, prepare to enjoy yourself.  Winning is nice, but having a good time is the best revenge.

We hope to see your there!

Contact lordpeters@tikimojo.com for more information.  Feel free to call 503-575-0815 on game day.

Want to hear about Mondo Croquet games happening in Portland and around?  Email lordpeters@gmail.com to get on the mailing list, and join our Facebook Group!

Postscript:

The Oregonian has a very nice writeup of the Mondo Croquet experience.  Click here to read more!

Learn how an open approach can engage your audience in new, meaningful ways

On July 20, Bibiana McHugh of TriMet will present a sneak preview of the multi-modal Open Trip Planner (http://opentripplanner.org/). It allows users to interactively explore and plan trips that combine walking, biking and transit. Metro contributed a Regional Travel Options grant for this project.

The Open Trip Planner is an example of how the open approach to public applications can marshal talented civic and agency resources to create advanced open source software solutions.

Michael Keating of OpenPlans (http://openplans.org/) will provide a snapshot of other exciting projects across the nation. OpenPlans’ overall goal is to develop software that is a true public resource; give individuals better ways to help shape their communities; and facilitate openness and transparency in government. Their other projects include:

• Streetsblog, a daily news source, online community and political mobilizer for the Livable Streets movement
• Open311, lays the groundwork for open systems that enable citizens to directly interact with their cities
• Transportation Feedback Portal, a planning project for NYC DOT

Free and open to the public. Registration not required. Please feel free to bring your lunch. For more information, contact Katie Edlin at katie.edlin@oregonmetro.gov or 503-813-7575.

On the run – hopping planes, going places… Yet you still need to update your site despite no easy access to your standard PC?

No problem.

WordPress to rescue. WordPress, swiss army knife for blog domination. Download the WordPress app for iPhone or Android and you can post text and photos directly to your blog from your phone.

iPhone app – http://iphone.wordpress.org/

Android app – http://android.wordpress.org/

It’s a Brand New World, of wonderful.

Call us if you need help.

Eames Demetrios

We’re happy to announce a new client – Eames Demetrios.

Eames Demetrios is the creator of Kymaerica and the Kcymaerxthaere, an alternate history of the world. He is the grandson of the legendary husband-and-wife design team Charles and Ray Eames.

Tiki:Mojo Creative Services has been engaged to maintain and expand the network of Web sites and internet efforts that support the ongoing creative projects of Mr. Demetrios.

From his entry on the TED Conference site:

The Kcymaerxthaere is “a global work of three-dimensional fiction” that overlays alternative stories onto the physical world. Eames Demetrios, the project’s Geographer-at-Large, travels the world exploring stories of imaginary peoples, movements, even physical laws — and then memorializing these stories on bronze plaques. Kymaerica, which Demetrios references in the talk, is one area within Kcymaerxthaere.

Demetrios is the grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, the design team whose classic chairs, photographs and films epitomize the boundless creativity of the midcentury modern period. Demetrios is active in preserving the Eames legacy, as principal of the Eames Office, a clearinghouse of resources for researching, shopping and exploring the work of these legendary creative people. Demetrios was instrumental in creating the interactive version of the Eames’ groundbreaking film Powers of Ten.

Demetrios also curates the online DASFilmFest.com, with a new film each month on Design, Architecture and Sustainability.

Kcymaerxthaere is right at the intersection between technology, art, design -and of course, fun.  And that’s right where we like to be.

If you are on this site, there’s a good chance that you have an interest in the future of the Web, how to get practical use out of technology and have a passing interest in design.

If that’s true, then I recommend you consider joining us at WebVisions 2010.  What is it?  A conference here in beautiful Portland, Oregon, dealing with all those items above and with a big heart.  Come hang with the tribe, learn and share what you know.

Take a look at the schedule of workshops and conference sessions.  I think you’ll find something for you.  Meanwhile, your friendly Tiki:Mojo specialists will be there behind the scenes keeping things running.  Be sure to say HI!

WebVisions 2010
Portland, OR
5/19/10 – 5/21/10

ready for the closeup

Sunday – North Portland.  We organized noted Portland photographer Steve Fritz to come by and take photos of Jack Pollock’s upcoming Wall Fossil product line.

Capturing the detail of Jack’s sculpture is no easy feat.  Stay tuned to see the results when we launch Jack’s new fossil art web site!

Vroom!

The Italian Job (1969) — a fine 60′s caper flick. Considered something of a classic by those in the know, it’s definitely fun to watch. You can read more about it here at Wikipedia. The soundtrack appears to be out of print. For your enjoyment I’ve pulled three tracks from the movie and here they are.

Getta Bloomin’ Move On! (from the end credits)
Download the mp3

Getta Bloomin’ Move On! (longer version)
Download the mp3

On Days Like These – from the opening sequence
download the mp3