Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

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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 :-)

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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.

The products table has a field called products_last_modified, which could certainly be shown on the product info page.

Thank you for taking the time to answer Nick, I will look into those options :-)

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Originally Posted by swguy

The products table has a field called products_last_modified, which could certainly be shown on the product info page.

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Now I feel stoopid... I've never noticed that field... *goes hunting*
:-)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

IDK I been using the same USPS tools on my cart since 10 years with no changes and the charges are always spot on. I just offered feed back and suggestions. Nothing more nothing less. If I could go to admin panel and click update USPS mod when it was updated or have the mod itself check for updates I would so be on board with the concept you are laying out, that is something that someone like me can understand. lol

I tried to just put in the USPS mod as no core files are changed and IDK what or why but it wouldnt work. However Ive decided not to use that as an option on this site for right now anyways so its not life or death.

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have the mod itself check for updates

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This is already part of the future plugin framework specification.

That will be much nice.

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Originally Posted by D4rKNeSs

That will be much nice.

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I think everybody would agree it would be fantastic to have a one click upgrade to Zen Cart, however, there are also certain situations where a one click upgrade might overwrite something that has be customised and implemented into the cart. One click upgrades aren't always the best thing and they still need treating carefully. Otherwise you can take a full site down. So files still need checking and backups still need to be taken regardless of how easy a one click upgrade might seem. It's easy to criticise the way Zen Cart upgrades are done, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to click the nuclear bomb button and have it destroy all that carefully produced customisation work would you?

Why thank you for the software upgrade lesson but I am well aware one click doesn't always work however it doesn't work at all if its not offered now does it and Ive read and noted ty again. however I got my fist web site over 21 years ago so I think I know these things. I am glad you schooled me in software installation as if I couldnt have figured out this wisdom on my own. Since I just paid a coder to upgrade a site with one click installs as more and more mods = more and more chance the auto installs won't work right which again is one of the reasons why core components as shipping and payment are built in or should be. Again so much thanks I will sleep good with this wisdom. I also had to laugh that you labeled it criticizing but I labeled it as offering suggestions and feedback. Maybe users should just learn to keep their mouth shuts uh?

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Originally Posted by D4rKNeSs

Why thank you for the software upgrade lesson but I am well aware one click doesn't always work however it doesn't work at all if its not offered now does it and Ive read and noted ty again. however I got my fist web site over 21 years ago so I think I know these things. I am glad you schooled me in software installation as if I couldnt have figured out this wisdom on my own. Since I just paid a coder to upgrade a site with one click installs as more and more mods = more and more chance the auto installs won't work right which again is one of the reasons why core components as shipping and payment are built in or should be. Again so much thanks I will sleep good with this wisdom. I also had to laugh that you labeled it criticizing but I labeled it as offering suggestions and feedback. Maybe users should just learn to keep their mouth shuts uh?

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Hey I am rolling my eyes at your arrogance my friend. I was only trying to help and give information on why one click upgrades don't always work. It's up to you if you take offence to that. It's not my fault if you can't wind your kneck in and appreciate someone trying to give honest help. Mirrors are great for when you need to take a long hard look at yourself you know ;-)

Oh sorry I didn't see it as help I seen it as criticizing. See how that works? Wind my neck in lol is that like wiping with a paint brush. I love the interwebz, press 6 to collect your prizes!

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Originally Posted by D4rKNeSs

Oh sorry I didn't see it as help I seen it as criticizing. See how that works? Wind my neck in lol is that like wiping with a paint brush. I love the interwebz, press 6 to collect your prizes!

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- HAHAHA, I guess you don't understand British quotes - basically 'wind your kneck in' means, calm down. Anyway, at least you made me smile hahaha

This discussion has gone WAY off track.

Maybe this will help get it back on track. I've had my own frustrations with Zencart, but very few that I couldn't work around. I HATE the WordPress appearance. I can tell in one glance if someone is using WordPress and Woocommerce (or Shopify, which has adopted the same format). For one thing, you have to scroll down endlessly to find all the content on the home page. That really annoys me. I want to see the highlights on the home page and then be able to click straight through to the items I'm interested in--the good old "top down" approach. Perhaps that dates me, but I still think it's the most logical way to present content to a purchaser. I maintain a couple of WordPress commercial sites for other people, and have had to work hard to force them into that format.

In my opinion, most of the other shopping cart systems are set up to allow the most inexperienced person to use them more or less efficiently. To use Zencart really well requires some programming experience (or access to a PHP programmer), and it helps to have some website design and maintenance experience. Those are higher standards but they make it possible to turn out superior results that don't look like a clone of everyone else's site.