EnglishDeutsch  
Use product catalogs at your point-of-sale with local data faded into the pages:
Customer prices, availability or exact stock directly from your ERP or database.

Make Elecat catalogs and data available to your customers via Internet and/or as a hybrid
system with local data on the PC or LAN for power users. Any combination is available.

All data and pages are kept permanently up-to-date by additions, Yellow Notes,
or additional html pages implanted directly into the paper page layout. Product catalogs in the browser on the desktop assist your staff with local data
faded into the pages just as for the point-of-sale (see there for more details).

All data and pages are kept permanently up-to-date by additions, Yellow Notes,
or html pages implanted directly into the paper page layout. Give your catalogs in Elecat to your customers for use on their web sites and/or
for local use on their POS and desktops. They can get direct access to your pricing,
availability and/or stock information via Internet at any time (24/7).
There are not additional license costs for giving Elecat to all of your customers! Elecat behaves much like an application in the browser and less like a conventional web site.
This is intended, because Elecat is not for show, it's for business primarily in the B2B world,
for professional users and often for frequent power users who need product catalogs in their
daily work and for their sales job.

This is why we have put more emphasis on professional funtionality and little on gimmicks. This left part shows the page icons, a list of page titles, the available catalogs
and some other data views depending on the version and on your settings.
This area can be shrunken to use the full width (see the little top arrow button).

This allows for an extremely quick navigation in all catalogs and all pages. The top part of the tools area holds a couple of buttons for navigation and
changing the page and page view. Most actions can also be done via the mouse
and especially via the keyboard. Keys are always much faster than the mouse
and this is useful for frequent power users.

The bottom part of the tools area holds several menu buttons. The bottom part of the tools area holds menu buttons for further actions.
This is where one finds most of the e-commerce funtionalities that make Elecat
an application in the browser.

The top part of the tools area holds several buttons for navigation and
for changing the view of pages. Yellow Notes can be placed on pages. When clicked, they open an html page
with additional or updated information. This is how you can keep your pages
permanently up-to-date and enhance them with additional information.

Of course, you can also choose an icon of your choice or make your own icon.

Such additional links are placed manually on single pages or automatically
on a series of pages in the Elecat Producer software.

Technically, this is all simple plain html and therefore everybody with some
html knowledge can even change the internals of the data. Normally, this is not
even needed, because the Elecat Producer software covers these details well. You can place video film on pages:
- either using YouTube
- or using a professional video player that loads films from your website.

The films are presented either in a separate window or in a new browser tab
depending on your decision and setting.

You can also place Flash videos or animations on pages with this tool. Elecat
supports Flash for such purposes but doesn't use Flash for presenting pages. You can place a link to an additional html page anywhere on an Elecat page.
Clicking on such a link opens a window that presents an additional html file.
This is quite similar to a Yellow Note it but has intentionally no extra icon,
because such links are typically added to some texts on a page.

Normally, adding such links is done by the Elecat Producer software, which also
stores and administrates all resources (images, html files etc). Technically,
this is all plain html and therefore everybody with some html knowledge
can even change the internals of the data, which is normally never needed. These links over product numbers are created automatically. They are the most important
type of links in Elecat, because they lead the user from a product identification to
additional processing, like adding this product to the shopping bag, or making an enquiry,
or presenting additional detailed information, for which there is no space on a printed page.

These links open a window with very different content (your decisions):
- More details in html pages generated from the Elebase database
- Extra images
- Related products such as accessory, spare parts, options etc
- Perhaps also individual pricing for the user (requires user log-in)
- If you wish to, also availability information (user-dependent)
- Or even concrete stock data (user-dependent)

This is also where enquiry and/or order entry (shopping bag) is handled. Links over images open either an enlarged view of this image or a gallery window
that presents several images also in an enlarged view.

This makes it easy to add many more images to a catalog page that are not contained
in the printed version. Space on the Internet costs nothing and it therefore makes
much sense to enrich your pages with additional images.
 The red borders around links are optional and they can be switched off by the user.
Their purpose is to show new Elecat users that and where there are links on pages.

Please note that the Elecat client can run in three different user modes:
- Beginner mode with plenty of additional information, help over the mouse etc
- Advanced mode with some help and hints switched off
- Expert mode with everything switched off that is not necessary or consumes time
and delays the browser's reaction, because for power users many of today's browsers,
especially Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and 8, are still very or quite slow.

This is also why we strongly recommend Firefox, which is 4-10 times faster
in the execution of JavaScript then MS internet Explorer 7 and 8. Elecat works with many tabs, exactly like a desktop software.

These tabs hold many different catalogue pages open simultaneously
and different HTML pages or database information or additional images etc.

You can switch immediately between these tabs and this is a lot faster
and more practical than any other form of navigation, especially than what
is practised in Flash.

Elecat - intelligent e-paper on the Internet:

Here is the Elecat Demo

paper layout 100% true to the original for e-business

Print-to-web - use printed catalogs for e-commerce
Elecat offers the fastest, most user-friendly and simply the best form of re-using paper product catalogs in the web browser.
Pages look exactly like the paper original but they become intelligent, interactive and the basis of e-business on your website.
Elecat upvalues e-paper for e-business by implanting actions, menus, behaviour and database access right into the pages.
Elecat is for use on your web site, but also at your POS, and on your staff's desktop, and also for use by your customers.


Paper catalogs in the web browser
100% true to the original paper layout
Elecat page are an exact reproduction of the original layout and they offer a lot more functionalties and features than PDF, pure Html or pages in Flash.

Elecat upvalues e-paper by adding clickable areas, menus, rich content, Yellow Notes, additional images and html pages, database access, plenty
of application logic and and a lot more
e-commerce funtionalities.

Only standard Internet technologies
Elecat uses just HTML, JPEG page views and JavaScript for the logic in the browser client.

These most basic Internet technologies are available in all modern browsers.
No plug-ins, no Flash needed though optionally available for videos and animation, no downloads, just the very basic web ingredients that any modern web browser understands.

Please move the mouse over the areas of the image to get explanations! sc02

Automatically created links on pages
Links on pages are created fully automatically from PDF content such as product or page numbers. Additional content and links can be added easily and very quickly to all pages so that the paper layout is substantially enriched but still fully maintained.

Elecat offers intelligent 'ApplicationPaper' versus stupid e-paper
Elecat turns product catalogs into intelligent interactive 'ApplicationPaper' fully embedded into applications while PDF just delivers stupid e-paper for nothing more than reading, without any major functionalty. Elecat makes the essential difference!

Elecat is 'better' than PDF in a browser and it's also better than pure HTML trying to reproduce paper layout

  • Its faster, because it loads single pages (with buffering in the browser for immediate next or previous page views)
  • Multiple page views in multiple tabs support the professional hurried business user
  • Actions inside pages = intelligent and interactive Elecat pages - versus stupid passive pages in PDF
  • Its all in Ajax technology = application in the browser with true desktop software feeling on the Internet
  • Elecat's page components are intelligent 3D objects linked to the database - versus stupid flat texts in PDF
  • Fully integrated into our Ajax based web applications and/or into your existing website or your web application
  • YellowNotes, user comments, bookmarks for pages and for products are all available without any license costs while none of these features is available in the free PDF reader and in any case not in the browser

Elecat is an Ajax application in the browser with embedded e-paper product catalogs
Elecat is an Ajax interactive application in the browser with true desktop software feeling and behaviour for e-business, all build around e-paper product catalogs in close combination with database access and application web server software. Elecat is also embedded in other Ajax web applications and portals such as EleAIS, the Article Information System in the browser and it can be very easily embedded into your existing website, web application or web shop.

Katalog 1 Katalog 2 Katalog 3 Katalog 4

 
 

The whole family

For further details please refer to the other web sites of this unique software family:
Elebase Product Content Management administrates all product data and catalog content for multiple re-use and data exchange
EleAIS Article Information System web server presents Elebase product data and Elecat catalogs on the Internet
Elepub Database Publishing software generates publications and product catalogs for paper, e-paper, HTML, Flash
EleFamily gives you an overview on the other products and links to the other product websites