1. Purpose

The purpose of this document is to guide you through constructing a simple Interchange catalog from scratch. The demo catalog that ships with Interchange is quite complex since it highlights some of the many capabilities that Interchange offers. As a template for your own catalog, the demo can be an intimidating place to start if your purpose is to learn.

The simple catalog you create using this tutorial should give you a feel for the basic Interchange system. It should also be considered a stepping stone to a more complete and functional e-commerce system built with Interchange. The tutorial relies as much as possible on default settings to accentuate how Interchange works. It will use as few of Interchange's capabilities as possible, while still building a usable store. The resulting site will be simple but usable. The value of this tutorial is in the instruction that occurs along the way.

It is recommended that you create the files used in this tutorial yourself. You will learn more by creating the directory structure and using your favorite text editor to create files in the proper places on your own system as they are discussed.