Purpose

This document is a User Guide for Countdown Anywhere module for Magento. It describes how work with the extension.

This module adds countdowns literary anywhere on your website - on product pages, as blocks, on CMS pages, as a gig for ‘under development’ website. You can set it to a date or bind to a special event. Among events there can be - special price now of in future, product availability now or in future, as well as any planned sales, promotions and events.

System Requirements

The extension works under Magento from 1.4.x and higher.

The extension works with Apache 1.3.x and higher, PHP 5, Linux or IIS.

The extension’s correct work is guaranteed with the following browsers:

• IE7, IE8, IE9
• FireFox 4.x, 5.x
• Google Chrome 15.x
• Safari 5.x

The correct work with other Magento versions, other browsers and Apache/PHP versions is not guaranteed.

Installation

All our Magento extensions and templates are installed via IToris Installer.

Download IToris Installer and un-pack to the root of your website. It will then appear in menu System –>IToris extensions –> IToris Installer.

Open it and you will see all our Magento Extensions and Templates, both installed and available. You can install, update and un-install them with one click now.

Find Countdown Anywhere in the list of extensions and press Install button. It will ask for the license key that you will receive after the purchase. Enter the key and submit. The extension will be installed. It will be available in menu System –>IToris extensions –> Countdown Anywhere

License

Magento modules developed by IToris are provided with 2 license types - regular and premium.

Regulal license is partially encrypted. This license is website-dependent. By ‘website’ here we understand the website in Magento terms. Under one Magento installation one license key of the extension can activate all stores/storeviews. within one website. If your configuration has several Magento websites - a separate license will be required for each.

One license also supports a number of sub-domains for development/testing purposes in addition to the live website. Please see the full list of available sub-domains and additional information about the license in our Terms and Conditions

Premium license activates one Magento installation. All websites, stores and storeviews under one installation are covered with one license. Premium license is 100% open-source and is recommended for customizations.

You can switch the license from one domain to another – login to IToris website using the credentials you will receive after the purchase. Go to My Downloads area, find your key there and reset it from the current website. Then use it again to activate another website.

The license also includes free life-time updates for the extension.

Types of Countdowns

There are several types of countdowns available. Depending on the type there are different settings of the countdown to be selected:

• Website Launch countdown
• Product special price - available now
• Product special price - available in future
• Inventory countdown
• Availability countdown
• Widget countdown

Website Launch Countdown

This countdown creates a gag (“Coming Soon” page) instead of the main page of the website. It shows how much time is left till the lunch of the website.

To set this countdown select in admin area System –>IToris extensions –> Countdown Anywhere on the page and witch to the tab Site Launch:

Activate Site Launch Countdown - when you select yes, your customers will see the gig (“Coming Soon” page) with the countdown instead of the main page.

Launch date - this is the date and time of the finishing point for the countdown. So for example if your launch is in 10 hours, countdown will start from 10 hours and will count down until 00:00 is reached. When 00:00 is reached - the “Coming soon” page disappears and the site starts functioning as usually.

Only Logged-in admin can view Frontend - if this checkbox is checked, then only administrators that are currently logged in to the back-end in the same browser (shared session) will see the front-end. The rest of users will see the gig with the countdown. If unchecked - everybody sees the gig with the countdown via http://www.mysite.com URL, yet the main page is available via http://www.mysite.com/index.php and is the starting point to the rest of the pages.

Header - this is an area to create any header of the Coming Soon page. There is a WYSIWYG editor, where you can add text, images, links, can style it the way you want. There is a default (Magento’s) logo there.

Counter Type - there are two types of countdown available: text and graphic. Please select the preferable one.

Color Scheme - select the design of the countdown you want, 11 color schemes are available.

Format - the display format of the countdown, should it display days, hours, minutes and seconds.

Counter Size - select between small, medium and large sizes.

Activate Subscribing - this is a standard Magento Newsletter functionality, available on Coming Soon page. Customers can enter their email address and subscribe to the newsletters.

Footer - here you can create any footer of the page you wish. Again the WYSIWYG editor is available, you can add text, images, links, etc.

Product Special Price Countdown

There are 2 countdowns to be displayed on product pages. They can be activated simultaneously.

The first one is displayed when special product price is set in future - it will show how much time is left till this price.

The second one shows the time left for a proposal. The price is special already; the counter displays how long it will stay special.

Both counters are available on the same page System –>IToris extensions –> Countdown Anywhere under the tab Special Price & Promotions:

In Future

This countdown is displayed on product pages when there is a special price expected in future.

When activated, it will be shown on the products that have Special Price filed populated, and Special Price From Date a date in future.

To activate this countdown please select Activate Countdown To Offer Start = yes

Intro Text is the text that will be displayed near the countdown.

Counter Type - 2 types of counters are available - text and graphic.

Color Scheme - select the design of the counter

Format - the display format of the countdown, should it display days, hours, minutes and seconds.

Counter Size - select between small, medium and large sizes.

As a result, all products where you have set special price in future will get the countdowns. The look will depend on your selected settings, for example:

Available Now

This countdown is displayed on product pages when there is a special price set for a limited time. This price is available already and will last till a set date.

When activated, this counter will be displayed on all products that have Special Price field populated, Special Price From Date in the past and Special Price To Date in the future.

To activate this countdown please select Activate Countdown To Offer Finish = yes

Intro Text is the text that will be displayed near the countdown.

Counter Type - 2 types of counters are available - text and graphic.

Color Scheme - select the design of the counter

Format - the display format of the countdown, should it display days, hours, minutes and seconds.

Counter Size - select between small, medium and large sizes.

As a result, all products that currently have special price available (and this price is limited in time) will get the countdowns. The look will depend on your selected settings, for example:

Inventory Countdown

There are two countdowns for products’ inventory. They can be activated simultaneously.

The first one is displayed when the set minimum of in-stock products has been reached (only 5 products left, for example).

The second one is displayed on out of stock products only. If there are bestsellers that a temporary out of stock, this countdown can be set to display when the product is available again and how many products are in stock.

Both counters are available on the same page System –>IToris extensions –> Countdown Anywhere under the tab Product Inventory:

Limited In-stock Products

This countdown is displayed when there is a limited quantity of a product left. It will show how many items are left.

To activate this countdown select Activate Inventory Countdown = yes.

Format - what to be displayed in the countdown. HTML tags are allowed here.

Minimum Inventory to Display - starting from which quantity of the product the countdown should be displayed. Leave 0 if you want the counter to be displayed all the time.

The final look of the countdown will depend on your settings, for example:

Out-of-Stock Products - When to Expect

This countdown is displayed when a product is currently out of stock, it is expected soon. To display this countdown open the product in admin area for editing and select its Inventory tab.

The product should have Stock Availability = Out of stock. This will activate a new area Product Availability Countdown Options.

Set the planned date when the product is available back and the planned quantity of the product.

Widget Countdowns

There are 2 types of widgets countdowns available - the one that can be embedded into CMS pages and the one that can be embedded into Magento modules.

Both have similar functionality.

Both countdowns imply there is an alternative content displayed temporarily. For example, there are 2 days left till summer sales - for these two days a static block on the main page will display summer sale ad and countdown, and as soon as the sale starts - there is no more countdown and other content is displayed.

The module allows creating this alternative content all together, not only embedding countdown.

Embed Countdown into CMS Page

To insert countdowns into a CMS page open this page for editing. There will be a new tab - Alternative Content tab.

Alternative Content is what will be displayed for the set period of time instead of the regular content. This is not limited by the countdown only - there can be another title, texts, images, etc. on the page.

Alternative Content page has the following fields/areas:

• Activate Alternative Content - if this checkbox is checked, then the regular content is substituted with the alternative one
• Content Heading - the title of the page for the alternative content
• Stop publishing on - the date will which the alternative content will be displayed and the countdown will work
• WYSIWYG Editor - here you can add content as with a regular Magento CMS page. Here you can also insert countdown as a widget:

Select IToris Countdown Anywhere among the list of available widgets, and its additional settings will be displayed.

Counter Type - 2 types of counters are available - text and graphic.

Color Scheme - select the design of the counter

Format - the display format of the countdown, should it display days, hours, minutes and seconds.

Counter Size - select between small, medium and large sizes.

Embed Countdown into Static Block

To insert countdowns into a Static Block open this block for editing. There will be a new area at the bottom of the page - Alternative Content.

Alternative Content is what will be displayed for the set period of time instead of the regular content. This is not limited by the countdown only - there can be another title, texts, images, etc. on the page. The whole block can be substituted for the set period of time to display a special promotion, sale and so on.

Alternative Content area has the following fields:

• Activate Alternative Content - if this checkbox is checked, then the regular content is substituted with the alternative one
• Stop publishing on - the date will which the alternative content will be displayed and the countdown will work
• WYSIWYG Editor - here you can add content as with a regular Magento static block. Here you can also insert countdown as a widget:

Select IToris Countdown Anywhere among the list of available widgets, and its additional settings will be displayed.

Counter Type - 2 types of counters are available - text and graphic.

Color Scheme - select the design of the counter

Format - the display format of the countdown, should it display days, hours, minutes and seconds.

Counter Size - select between small, medium and large sizes.