2011 November | Hen's Teeth Network Blog

Archive for November, 2011

Updated Google Product Feed Support in Profits Plus Sitemap Module

Filed under: E-Commerce — Art Zemon on November 16, 2011

As you are probably aware by now, Google has announced new requirements for the Google Product Feed (included as part of the HTN Profits Plus Sitemap module). Google began enforcing these requirements on September 22, 2011.

We have updated the Profits Plus Sitemap module to support the new Google Product Feed requirements.

The changes require some work on your part to update PDG Commerce product information so that the feed can properly pick up the required values. If you don’t have the time to give to this effort, you might want to disable the Google Product Feed inside your Sitemap module until you do have time to work on your product data. This will keep you from submitting a feed that is nonconformant and risking whatever consequences Google might have for that noncompliance. If you need help disabling the feed, please contact us.

The PDG Commerce database does not support some of the specific data that Google will be requiring. When PDG Software changes the database in such a way that these data can be supported, we will be able to update the Sitemap module. In the meantime, these specific things are not supported by the Profits Plus Google Product Feed.

Apparel Items Not Fully Supported

“Variants are versions of the same product which only vary based on colors, materials, patterns, or sizes. Examples include dresses of different sizes and colors, digital cameras of different colors, and food items of different size capacities.”
– Google Products Feed Specification

Google has specified a number of new requirements for Apparel and Accessory items. Two of these requirements are currently impossible for stores using PDG Software products to comply with:

Provide product variant information for apparel items
Provide unique images for products that differ by the variant attribute color, pattern, or material.

The Profits Plus Sitemap Module cannot support apparel items that have product options because we are unable to match specific images to specific product-option combinations. For example, a yellow shirt must have a different image from a blue shirt. PDG Commerce does not support these image associations in the administrative interface, in the database, or in the templates which create the pages that customers see. The Sitemap Module will still output all other variant data in the Google Products Feed, however Google may reject the feed since unique images are required for color/pattern/material differences.

The Profits Plus Sitemap Module cannot support apparel items that are Style Items, managed through the QuickBooks Web Connector because we are unable to differentiate the option values that make up each unique style. The Sitemap Module disables the output of Style Items into the Product Feed for this reason; this Sitemap setting can be overridden, however only the parent Style Item will be output into the feed.

We hope that PDG Software will enable the support within their products to allow us to fully support apparel items in the future.

All apparel items are still supported in the sitemap generated by the Profits Plus Sitemap module. Only the Product Feed has restrictions on the types of apparel items.

Style Items Not Fully Supported

Due to limitations in PDG Software’s programs, style items are not supported in the Google Product Feed. Specifically, if you use QuickBooks and the QuickBooks Web Connector (QBWC) to create products in PDG Commerce that have SKU numbers that begin with “ST-” then these products cannot be included in the Google Product Feed. Neither PDG Commerce nor the QBWC provide the information required to properly create the product variants within the Product Feed. If PDG Software updates their programs, we hope to be able to support style items in the future.

The Sitemap Module disables the output of Style Items into the Product Feed for this reason; this Sitemap setting can be overridden, however only the parent Style Item will be output into the feed.

Style items items are still supported in the sitemap generated by the Profits Plus Sitemap module. Only the Product Feed no longer supports them.

10th Anniversary Ribbon Cutting

Filed under: This & That — Art Zemon on November 15, 2011

We held a celebratory 10th anniversary ribbon cutting at the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce last night.

Celebrating 10 years

See our Google+ page for more pictures. Finally, please click the +1 button or Like button at the top, right corner of this page.

Celebrating 10 Years

Filed under: E-Commerce,Email,Hosting,Performance,Security,This & That,Web Development — Art Zemon on November 1, 2011

Ten years ago, on November 1, 2001, Hen’s Teeth Network was born. The past decade has seen tremendous technological change and let me work with truly amazing people and companies. Take a trip down memory lane with me.

When I started Hen’s Teeth Network, I never imagined the broad range of clients with whom I would work. Fascinating clients: from jewelry to medical marijuana, from children’s books to adult products, from swaddling blankets to grief counseling, from wedding invitations to anger management, from spiritual to religious to political and back again, from stylin’ shoes to hiking trails to bicycling, from podcasts to public libraries, from airplanes to trains to cars, from women’s fashion to medical uniforms, from art galleries to theatrical stages, from rubber stamps to air conditioners, from coffee to lobster to health supplements, from fishing tackle to board games, from financial forecasting to transportation planning, from dating help to parenting help, from home schooling to college course materials, from natural birth classes to Halloween costumes, from one-person start-ups to multi-national corporations to governments. It never ceases to amaze me how complex and interesting every business is, when you take the time to look at it carefully and understand how one business person is differentiating him or herself from his or her competition.

Among HTN’s clients, computers and the web are tools, simply a means to an end. Our mission, from the very beginning, has been: We help our clients improve their businesses by turning the internet and the web into useful tools.

2001

Launching a business less than two months after 9/11 might not be considered stellar timing but it was the right thing at that point in my life. I offered my time way below a living wage but it is better to earn something than nothing and, in those days, full fare work was darned hard to come by. Our web hosting was done on machines in my basement and reliability depended on my constant, personal availability. (more…)