RE: FN-FORUM: osCommerce

date posted 26th February 2008 21:14

Hi Ashley,

I agree with some of the comments about osCommerce - to set up a default
installation straight out of the box is very easy. It is a matter of
uploading files to a webserver (or accessing them locally on something such
as XAMPP), then going to the install page and entering a few pieces of
information. However, others are right in saying that to produce a
half-decent looking install, it needs time to customise it. There are a ton
of addons and mods available from addons.oscommerce.com, which are worth
looking through - be careful though, as not all of them work, or are as
uptodate as they should be. Take *plenty* of backups, just in case!

A couple of other tips - a few authors have published books on osCommerce;
if you are really serious about learning it, look at the ones by Packt
Publishing - www.packtpub.com. The Professional one for osCommerce has had a
little bit of negative press, but the other ones have served me well - see
what you think of them. The other tip which is a real lifesaver - look for
the STS Template system on addons.oscommerce.com. osCommerce is entirely
(just about!) PHP based, so can be a bit difficult to customise in terms of
layout, as there are few visual elements which show in Dreamweaver. STS
Template gives you a hook-in which you can customise very easily; the layout
is transformed into a HTML page with elements that relate to parts of the
default osCommerce. This I am sure can be updated to a more modern layout
using divs and CSS.

I have to admit I have not done much on osCommerce as others may have done
so, but it is worth it if you are prepared to put a little bit of time in to
it. I would agree that it may be useful to see this as a learning exercise -
you will certainly learn a lot.

Give me a yell if you have any more questions.

Alex.

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL REMOVED] [EMAIL REMOVED] On Behalf Of Ashley
Harvey
Sent: 25 February 2008 22:02
To: FN-FORUM / [EMAIL REMOVED]
Subject: FN-FORUM: osCommerce


Hi people,

I have to give someone a quote for a site and they've mentioned using
osCommerce as the shopping cart.

I've looked at osCommerce a bit but wondered how long it can take to set it
up as well as amending the templates.

Is it all pretty straight forward, well documented, easy to do? When you
guys set it up for the first time how long did it take to do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
ADH
Ashley Harvey
07967 791738
www.adhwebcreations.co.uk



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