Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Elemi
Interesting read, thanks everyone, as it's been a while since I was in here... Great to see some familiar names on this thread. :-)
I have the dreaded upgrade to do... from 1.3.9h to whatever it is now... yeah yeah I know, but life gets busy and other priorities take place... and I have a new website to write as I'm branching a section of my business off, and have been trying to decide what to do.
I am pleased to say after looking at some Zencart templates online, that some are looking very pretty... so now I'm stuck trying to decide which one to go with.
However, my biggest issue I have is payment modules, as I have to do stock checks first as my inventory system is in MYOB AccountRight (manual on my pc) and then request payments... otherwise I could be forever crediting people when it gets busy. Is there an easy way to repopulate stock rather than going into every description? Can I add different quantities to attributes?
Does Zencart now allow for the product page to show when it was last updated, as well as when it was created? I'm busy updating my descriptions with clinical research, and I would like them to show as being current as my site has been going since 2006; prior to that it was with Online Merchant (1999).
That's my 2 cents worth from Middle Earth :-)
In my view, Zen Cart has become much easier to develop with and the template system is much better than it was. And getting better over time. I still think Zen Cart is by far one of the best ecommerce tools for selling online, as it gives complete flexibility as a self-hosted solution. I ONLY develop in Zen Cart anyway. I often wonder what will happen when people using off the shelf hosted solutions get hammered big time by price increases, and then they realise they can't move their shop because it relies on the hosted software supplied by the host. Anyway, my view is that they will learn the hard way when it starts to hit their profits.
Is there an easy way to repopulate stock rather than going into every description?
You can probably do this using a CSV spreadsheet and Easy Populate I believe.
Can I add different quantities to attributes?
I think Stock By Attributes is the mod you would require for this.
Does Zencart now allow for the product page to show when it was last updated, as well as when it was created?
Could you not just use the date available field and change the date everytime the product is updated? That could then be displayed on your product.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
The products table has a field called products_last_modified, which could certainly be shown on the product info page.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Thank you for taking the time to answer Nick, I will look into those options :-)
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swguy
The products table has a field called products_last_modified, which could certainly be shown on the product info page.
Now I feel stoopid... I've never noticed that field... *goes hunting*
:-)
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Every platform has some sort of something that could be better. Zen Cart needs better out of the box functionality and easier upgrades imo. I mean why take out USPS mod? Needs more pay and shipping mods included. I been here since 2006-7 and back then we were waiting on V2 I think. Someone said V2 on hold while they make 1 the best it can be and including some of the popular mods by default. I agree who cares if its called Version 19 long as it can perform and has options people need. Shipping and payments mods are something people need and use.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
UPS was removed from the core because the change schedule for UPS is not aligned with Zen Cart releases, and it's better if people don't download a copy of Zen Cart with a non-working version of UPS (in the case that UPS changed after the Zen Cart release was done). Just bookmark the download areas for the key mods you need and you'll always be able to see if things are up to date or get the latest copy of a mod.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
I was referencing USPS not UPS. I have no idea about UPS they charge to much to ship imo. FedEx module would be ideal though!
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Same deal there - USPS makes changes completely outside of the Zen Cart upgrade schedule, so it's best to remove their files from the Zen Cart core and have people install the most up to date one when they need it.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
Could be but for stupid people like me just something extra we have to deal with when many other carts have it included. If upgrading was one click upgrades like most software productss of this era it could be kept up to date very easily. The USPS mod seemed like a simple thing to implement but didnt work for me so another head ache I will have to sort out later. If things arent simple for stupid people like me it makes things harder. One of the main reasons one my carts is still 1.3.9h it has what I need and it works out of the box for me and has USPS since 2006 with no issues and no changes were ever made to the USPS mod. To get people off things like shopify the alternatives have to be some what easy for stupid people like me. Now if I upgrade the 1.39.h I have to mess with installing a mod that should be included already as standard.
Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart
WADR, there's a saying in the programmers' world. Paraphrasing, "The quickest way to find out a plugin was updated is to release a new version that uses that plugin."
Not unlike the membership roster that never changes until you post a new one. "My address changed six months ago" is what we hear withing minutes of the new roster's release.
USPS is notorious for not letting folks know of changes. Someone in their IT never heard of permalink or standardization of terms. First Class has changed more times than I remember.
This is one of those cases where I feel having the current mod available for quick upload is far better than the alternative of dropping and re-installing. No core files are touched, so just get the current and move on.