Comments on: Shopping Cart Showdown http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/ On Matters Miscellaneous Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:17:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Crisses http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-124 Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:47:08 +0000 http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-124 Hi, Rodney! Thanks for the tip. The first thing I see when I go there is the price, but I do note that that's the price to remove their copyright, so "free" is more like it -- it's not free as in FOSS, as it doesn't seem to be open-source software (OSS). There is something to be said for that, and when a customer comes along, I might check it out. BUT -- and that's a pretty big but -- I really enjoy working with OSS. Still, it's PHP/MySQL. Is it self-customizable? I can't tell from here; this could be a pre-compiled PHP program. If so, that would be a disqualifier. You said there's a helpful userbase -- what about the developers? Hi, Rodney! Thanks for the tip. The first thing I see when I go there is the price, but I do note that that’s the price to remove their copyright, so “free” is more like it — it’s not free as in FOSS, as it doesn’t seem to be open-source software (OSS). There is something to be said for that, and when a customer comes along, I might check it out. BUT — and that’s a pretty big but — I really enjoy working with OSS. Still, it’s PHP/MySQL. Is it self-customizable? I can’t tell from here; this could be a pre-compiled PHP program. If so, that would be a disqualifier. You said there’s a helpful userbase — what about the developers?

]]> by: Rodney http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-123 Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:09:28 +0000 http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-123 Hey Crisses, be sure to checkout CubeCart.com as well. Feature filled, strong helpful userbase, easy to template, many additional mods. Free :) Hey Crisses, be sure to checkout CubeCart.com as well. Feature filled, strong helpful userbase, easy to template, many additional mods. Free :)

]]> by: Crisses http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-110 Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:14:22 +0000 http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-110 Ok. When it boiled down to it, I ended up back and Zen Cart. I got pretty close to revisiting oscommerce and beating it into submission, but I'm glad I gave Zen Cart a try. Ease of templating - templating it was OK. Still somewhat oscommerce-like, but to put the basic template around the page required only touching the expected header/footer type of files. Fit for use in the US - while exceptionally internationally-minded, there was no blanket tax (similar to oscommerce). Coupons/Discounts - these modifications are built in, unlike oscommerce which required hand-editing of a dozen files to patch it for coupons & discounts. -- Overall I was happy but I look forward to working on a shopping cart for PmWiki in the near future. The customer's site is up, it looks good, and will probably go live this coming week. It looks a LOT like the design she wanted, and I didn't have to break the program or myself against the program to get it to look good. Ok. When it boiled down to it, I ended up back and Zen Cart. I got pretty close to revisiting oscommerce and beating it into submission, but I’m glad I gave Zen Cart a try.

Ease of templating - templating it was OK. Still somewhat oscommerce-like, but to put the basic template around the page required only touching the expected header/footer type of files.

Fit for use in the US - while exceptionally internationally-minded, there was no blanket tax (similar to oscommerce).

Coupons/Discounts - these modifications are built in, unlike oscommerce which required hand-editing of a dozen files to patch it for coupons & discounts.

– Overall I was happy but I look forward to working on a shopping cart for PmWiki in the near future. The customer’s site is up, it looks good, and will probably go live this coming week. It looks a LOT like the design she wanted, and I didn’t have to break the program or myself against the program to get it to look good.

]]> by: Crisses http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-31 Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:42:52 +0000 http://www.eclectictech.net/etblog/2006/09/23/shopping-cart-showdown/#comment-31 QuickCart -> fails because of a criteria I didn't foresee. Tax. If you add tax to a shopping cart it's not on a per-product basis. It's also not on a per-state basis. Many merchants don't charge out-of-state taxes. In any case, a store in New Jersey does not charge sales tax on clothes. Many places don't charge tax on certain types of food or food products. Etc. You can't have a variety of items and not be able to figure out whether or not your items get taxed individually. That's not something I want to hack. I guess I look closer at Viart Free next. :/ QuickCart -> fails because of a criteria I didn’t foresee. Tax. If you add tax to a shopping cart it’s not on a per-product basis. It’s also not on a per-state basis. Many merchants don’t charge out-of-state taxes. In any case, a store in New Jersey does not charge sales tax on clothes. Many places don’t charge tax on certain types of food or food products. Etc. You can’t have a variety of items and not be able to figure out whether or not your items get taxed individually. That’s not something I want to hack.

I guess I look closer at Viart Free next. :/

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