Testing Customizable Products
After creating a new Customizable Product, it is recommended that you check that shoppers can customize the text, images, forms, etc., and order the product as expected. You should create a test order on the storefront to be sure.
Testing on the storefront is also essential for Variable Data Products. See also
“Troubleshooting the variable data upload”.
•Step 1: Create a test order
Add the product to a store, log in as a user and order the product.
•Step 2: Test layout editing
Open the product in the Online Editor and perform some basic checks:
•If a form is used for data entry, fill the fields with long words or sentences to check if sufficient space was foreseen or the copyfitting settings are configured properly.
•With forms you should also check if the layout is OK when fields are left blank.
•If the 'Basic' or 'Advanced' workspace is used, check if all the locked layers are also locked within the layout. You do not want shoppers to accidentally move locked content.
•Check all of the other constraints that were configured to make sure the shopper is limited to making only those changes that are allowed. This applies to the use of fonts and styles and to the user's ability to modify or move all of the frames in the layout.
•Check if the image libraries are configured correctly and the shopper has access to all the artwork he or she is meant to have access to.
•For Variable Data Products, check that the variable data is merged as expected in final documents.
Personalize the customizable product and add it to your shopping cart.
•Step 3: Check the softproof (PDF Preview)
Click the PDF Preview link of the product in the shopping cart to validate that the softproof that users can access matches the print-ready PDF file. Keep in mind that PDF preview files are different from print-ready PDF files in a number of ways. In preview files:
•the high resolution images are downsampled to minimize the file size and speed up access.
•PDF security settings and a watermark are added depending on the settings in Advanced > Production Settings > PDF Preview.
•non-printing layers are included while these are excluded in the print-ready PDF.
•no bleed is added while print-ready PDF files have a 12 mm (0.47 inch) border for bleed and crop marks.
There are some exceptional cases in which a softproof might look different from the print-ready PDF. This can confuse the shopper and cause him or her to cancel the order. Artifacts in PDF preview files are typically caused by transparency getting processed differently in the StoreFront web environment. If this occurs, you will have to rework the InDesign source file and recreate the product. Many issues can be resolved by replacing complex InDesign objects by easier to process bitmap files. For example: if a logo with a drop shadow on a gradient background is too complex to process and the background gradient disappears on the PDF preview, then replacing that gradient in InDesign by an identical bitmap gradient may resolve the problem.
•Step 4: Process the order item (optional)
Processing the order item in the prepress workflow system assures that the base layout is correct and does not cause any problem because of low-res images, incorrect color spaces, not enough bleed, etc. This step is recommended if the InDesign source file was created by an external agency or designer.