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  1. #1
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    Idea or Suggestion Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    I'm exploring other options. This isn't flame thread, just a sad realization that the Internet has outgrown this platform, despite having the most amazing/helpful community. Here's why:

    • Zen Cart does not keep up with modern demands. It's an old school OG platform that seems stubbornly stuck in the early days of eCommerce.
    • No modern site asks more than 3 or 4 questions to create an account. Email is more important than anything and account creation is basically another way of subscribing to an email list. Zencart asks 12+ questions just to create an account! Nobody wants to give their address and phone info just to join a site. I tried and tried and tried to get around this, but alas there's no resolution for this old school way of thinking.
    • Themes are stuck in the early 2000s and the modern looking themes available (ie: themeforest, etc) have wretched code that is impossible to modify nicely.
    • The admin area hasn't changed in a decade. It no longer makes sense in 2015. One example, why do you have to go to an entirely separate page to input metadata for a product? It should all be done on one page, so less energy is spent on listing products. Look at the wordpress admin and compare logic and overall usability.
    • Out of the box SEO is horrible.
    • Everything feels like a bunch of hacking together to get things to feel like a 2015 shopping site. Stuff that comes out of the box in newer platforms is impossible to achieve in ZC.


    Just a sad and frustrated Zen Cart user thread. It's been a long journey. Around 8 years. ZC has got me this far, and I'm thankful for that. But, a lot has changed in the world of eCommerce and how people shop online. I'm suddenly feeling like Zen Cart over-complicates things that should be easy, and doesn't provide the best user/shopper experience. I'll test another platform for a few weeks and see how it goes. Thank you everyone.


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    ... I'll test another platform for a few weeks and see how it goes.....
    Good Luck with finding another open source platform which won't give you the .... (you know what). I tested many and ZC is still the easiest and most robust platform to work with. Wait until you have to conquer Magento...

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by frank18 View Post
    Good Luck with finding another open source platform which won't give you the .... (you know what). I tested many and ZC is still the easiest and most robust platform to work with. Wait until you have to conquer Magento...
    You are 100% correct. Can't even compare to Magento. I'm just so frustrated looking at all the beautiful eCommerce sites out there. Sites that started within the last 2 years and sell one or two products are beautiful, modern, and designed to help grow the overall business. So many links that people drop in this forum are down, sometimes I wonder if it's because they just couldn't handle running a business, or because chose a free open source platform that takes up thousands of hours to modify and make look like a trustworthy, modern site.

    I think that's a huge issue, trust. Zencart as an overall ecommerce solution to manage orders is awesome, but it's not made with design in mind. The front end takes far too much effort to convey trust and present products nicely.

    Again, you are 100% correct. That's why I'm stumped.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    what are you testing?

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by johnniejetski View Post
    what are you testing?
    Frankly, no idea yet. I know that most will be paid options. But maybe worth it in the long run?

    Will likely start with Wordpress. There are just so many amazing looking sites out there now and as a longtime ZC user it has me frustrated. In 2015, many options look great out of the box. Fonts, picture organization, banners, etc. Any ideas?

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    At some point I shared a similar outlook to you.

    I did look at alternatives, like OpenCart, and Magento (good gosh - say bye bye to built-in basic customization) - and I looked at...more contemporary alternatives like Shopify.

    I learned to appreciate Zen-Cart even more.

    You grow with Zen-Cart. The templating system is ingenious, it separates core from design and pretty much gives you free reign over many things. Once you get a hang of the basic file structure - it's so navigable. The plugins you find here are a dream to be honest. Specific markers to outline what code is custom and what is standard - it allow you to pick and choose how you want to install a plugin. Whoever maintains the plugin submissions is really keeping an eye on things.

    There is so much open to you - and I've learned too much along the way. I never saw myself coding php when I built my first Zen-Cart store, and now I've picked up some seriously crazy stuff along the way. Zen-Cart has taught me so much, about html, css, and php. And because it's so disastrously lacking in design, I've learned an ample amount of stuff on just basic jQuery. Give me the functionality, and I'll handle the design myself.

    There are some frustrating things, like you pointed out - these days customers don't want to fill in an entire form of information to become a member. I agree with you there.

    As for the admin layout...I don't care what it looks like, my customers aren't seeing it, so as long as it functions, I'm happy.

    I'm still looking for that perfect accounting software package I can integrate with Zen-Cart - still no luck. I find that the problem is quite often that the accounting packages are lacking proper APIs or just plain closed up and restricted. This is arguable.

    All in all - I'm hoping Zen-Cart 1.6 addresses the smaller issues - like the account creation process - and other than that - It's easiest cart open to free reign.

    The one thing that scares me is, when DrByte and Kobra and the cool guy with the forum nick that begins with "mc" and Linda and all of the ninjas...how long are they going to be around for...and what happens when...they've grown tired...
    Last edited by yaseent; 22 Oct 2015 at 08:03 PM.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    At some point I shared a similar outlook to you.
    I did look at alternatives, like OpenCart, and Magento (good gosh - say bye bye to built-in basic customization) - and I looked at...more contemporary alternatives like Shopify.
    How did you feel about Shopify?

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    You grow with Zen-Cart. The templating system is ingenious, it separates core from design and pretty much gives you free reign over many things. Once you get a hang of the basic file structure - it's so navigable. The plugins you find here are a dream to be honest. Specific markers to outline what code is custom and what is standard - it allow you to pick and choose how you want to install a plugin. Whoever maintains the plugin submissions is really keeping an eye on things.
    Maybe you never used Wordpress but THAT is a dream. One click install, done. Not hacking away at code because of a templating system that is stuck in web 1.0. Don't want the plugin anymore? You're screwed if you didn't take notes or save the original files to know what to remove from the code.

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    There is so much open to you - and I've learned too much along the way. I never saw myself coding php when I built my first Zen-Cart store, and now I've picked up some seriously crazy stuff along the way. Zen-Cart has taught me so much, about html, css, and php. And because it's so disastrously lacking in design, I've learned an ample amount of stuff on just basic jQuery. Give me the functionality, and I'll handle the design myself.
    You are so right about this. Without ZC I wouldn't have learned any PHP or CSS, etc. For that, I am very thankful.

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    There are some frustrating things, like you pointed out - these days customers don't want to fill in an entire form of information to become a member. I agree with you there.
    Just a product of old school thought and design without new school evolution.

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    As for the admin layout...I don't care what it looks like, my customers aren't seeing it, so as long as it functions, I'm happy.
    I case about this a lot, because poor admin layout means wasted time. It's also discouraging for developers to create cool plugins and themes for the community. Amazingly some newer theme makers are finding way to create decent enough admin panels to make theme changes, but it still lacks so much.

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    I'm still looking for that perfect accounting software package I can integrate with Zen-Cart - still no luck. I find that the problem is quite often that the accounting packages are lacking proper APIs or just plain closed up and restricted. This is arguable.
    Good luck! Accounting software it the worst. Quickbooks is a nightmare! It's not even easy to find a half-decent inventory management solution. *crying*

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    All in all - I'm hoping Zen-Cart 1.6 addresses the smaller issues - like the account creation process - and other than that - It's easiest cart open to free reign.
    Hope so, too. Thanks for reminding me of some positives of using ZC.

    Quote Originally Posted by yaseent View Post
    The one thing that scares me is, when DrByte and Kobra and the cool guy with the forum nick that begins with "mc" and Linda and all of the ninjas...how long are they going to be around for...and what happens when...they've grown tired...
    That is a scary thought! Every name you listed here has helped tremendously over the years. They are all names that mean a lot and create such a sigh of relief when they take time to chime in on posts. So very thankful for them and other Zenners that post here!!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    How did you feel about Shopify?
    Impressive basic features. But when you need modules to solve even some simple stuff...you must pay a developer up to $15 per month...and if the module requires the use of database entries, the third-party developer is hosting this database for you...this is scary.


    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    Maybe you never used Wordpress but THAT is a dream. One click install, done. Not hacking away at code because of a templating system that is stuck in web 1.0. Don't want the plugin anymore? You're screwed if you didn't take notes or save the original files to know what to remove from the code.
    Not really..I assume you're talking about Woocommerce? I've taken one look at a website a friend cooked up...I found it rather bloated-looking.

    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    Good luck! Accounting software it the worst. Quickbooks is a nightmare! It's not even easy to find a half-decent inventory management solution. *crying*
    Stupid accounting. I've been watching AccountEdge closely, by Acclivity. I'm going to be implementing that when I get a chance...there is some room for importing orders and so on...it's quite nifty, with a rather interesting mobile app as well. iOS only for now, but the desktop software is for Mac and PC - and it syncs some stuff back and forth to the mobile app.

    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    Hope so, too. Thanks for reminding me of some positives of using ZC.
    :)

  9. #9
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    Aug 2005
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    Quote Originally Posted by pricediscrimination View Post
    I'm still looking for that perfect accounting software package I can integrate with Zen-Cart - still no luck. I find that the problem is quite often that the accounting packages are lacking proper APIs or just plain closed up and restricted. This is arguable.
    I know of and had integrated an accounting system that works PERFECT with Zen Cart and I can show you the site. You are able to "click a button" and update the ZC site.
    IDEAS Girl
    IDEAS Creative Group
    = Your image... our business!
    My contributions: SophyBlue / Sophy Blue-Grey / Mistik / The Bookshelf / Dynamic Sideboxes

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Why I'm Quitting Zen Cart

    pricediscrimination,
    I'm exploring other options
    You might read this users experiences
    https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread....-to-get-it-all
    Zen-Venom Get Bitten

 

 
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