Anyone else feel like there are too many categories with excessively long lists?

[Nick_Djinn]

It seems a little excessive sometimes. Do you think it would be possible to create an alternative way of keeping all the options without such a volume of categories and massive lists ascribed to each one?

I like the end result of Zencart better than many other shopping carts, but the admin panel feels cumbersome to me. Everything is there, but it seems like an efficient and well planed approach wouldnt just compile massive lists of every option that comes to mind separately. If it was organized more around what you wanted it to do, like if you want to make a page have just ONE option from the control panel then have it branch out from there.....not 28 ways to manipulate pages spread out over 3 or 4 different categories of options. Sometimes less is more, without actually being any less.

Im not saying I dont like Zencart. Im still using it. I like the end result, and once its up it works quite well.....I just think it needs to be said, especially as the project evolves and more options get added.....there has to be a better way to add options instead of just adding sheer bulk of specific actions from the main page of the control panel. It should start more general then branch out to being more specific, and you should be able to do more things from the same one page rather than only very specific and narrow things stretched over a hundred pages.

Just some constructive criticism to think about. Im not sure if any of the free carts that are powerful enough are any better.

[gjh42]

The admin hasn't been significantly changed (just added to) in many years. It is scheduled for a complete overhaul right after critical front-end items like checkout are overhauled.

[Nick_Djinn]

Good to hear.....and I dont mean to sound ungrateful....I mean, out of all the carts I have seen Zencart is the one I am ultimately going with. The others were either not powerful enough or required more web design skill just to maintain, so its actually a pretty awesome shopping cart considering that its free.

I hope my criticism comes off as being constructive, but the biggest weakness is the sheer volume of options and the chaotic way they are arranged, and the limited functionality of each option being too narrow in scope and therefor requiring such an excessive volume of options.

Hopefully the overhaul will cut down on the clutter of options, allowing you to do more with fewer tools or pages, without sacrificing any of the available options.

And it should give me a million dollars.

[dutchy]

And it should give me a million dollars.

hope you donate then ;-)