Adding to an existing web site

I have built a website in Dreamweaver using HTML and Flash so far. I have it looking almost exactly how the client wants it and I am now trying to figure out how to add in an ecommerce solution. This is my first attempt at creating a successful ecommerce site and I am honestly feeling a little daunted by the process. Every prebuilt shopping cart seems to want me to make the entire site with it, which is not really needed for this outfit. They only sell 3 products, but the products are customizable.

What I am needing is a way to take variable outputs from AS2.0 and HTML forms and store them along with the orders so that when the invoices are sent to my clients they know what customizations are needed on the products. I don't need any category or search functions. I don't need the whole site to be a storefront. I basically need the submit buttons in the forms to add the items + information to the cart and then allow the customer to select a payment method. I would like to include Google Checkout, Paypal and a feature that allows them to use either paypal or google to just put in their credit cart without having to have an account. My clients also want an upfront shipping calculator.

Can someone help me out a bit? I am a coding novice and have no idea how to get this taken care of. I searched and read a few posts and it seems like this is a great community that really helps each other out. crosses fingers

Adam

I basically need the submit buttons in the forms to add the items + information to the cart and then allow the customer to select a payment method.

Sorry to disappoint you, but Zen Cart is not designed to operate that way.

Kim:

Sorry to disappoint you, but Zen Cart is not designed to operate that way.

That is what I was afraid of. Could anyone point me in the way of a tutorial or free/cheap program that could help me to accomplish my goal. I need something that i can put into my existing framework if at all possible.

There is a "shop-front" that integrates with Dreamweaver's dsign and management system... I can't recall what it's called but if you go to Dreamweaver forums and look for "shpopping cart for Dreamweaver" you may have better luck.

It is a commercial add-on for dreamweaver, but I think it is under $300...

Adalast:

I have built a website in Dreamweaver using HTML and Flash so far. I have it looking almost exactly how the client wants it and I am now trying to figure out how to add in an ecommerce solution. ...

This is the part I just cannot understand. How could anyone take on a job that includes an eCommerce component, and design the whole site almost to completion, and only then go looking for the eComm part? That is just plain nuts, if you don't mind my saying so.

Rob

rstevenson:

This is the part I just cannot understand. How could anyone take on a job that includes an eCommerce component, and design the whole site almost to completion, and only then go looking for the eComm part? That is just plain nuts, if you don't mind my saying so.

Rob

Good point - and it relates to people being clueless about functionality issues and who regard cosmetics as the priority...

I am fortunate to have a good client-base in this industry, but almost without exception, they all haggle me over stupid things like the "shape of a button" or a "background colour being too dark"...

They have not the slightest inkling or concern for functional reliability - all that stuff that happens deep within the server, completely out of view.

I put part of this problem to bad training in, and knowledge of the basics. These days you can buy and install Adobe CS on Friday, and by Monday start trading as a "web designer".

So sophisticated is the WYSIWYG element these days, that it is practically unnecessary to even know how to spell HTML and CSS - never mind understand what they mean!

But I relish these ignorant designers... a LOT of customers have come on board with me because the person who "built" their site is completely incapable of managing it.

15 years of grounding in, and focus on, the basics is a USP I don't want widely diluted. I am sure my contemporaries in this industry feel the same! :D

I am going to try not to take anything that was said above personally. I am fairly ignorant of the finer aspects of the background functions and I was upfront with my clients about this. By trade I am a 3d artist who took some web design classes for that were included in my 3d animation degree program. The only reason I am doing the web design work instead of Visual Effects is because that is the work I can find where I live. We all have to do something to get by in this economy, right?

I do do all of my coding in HTML and CSS and personally hate the WYSIWYG design stuff... I find it annoying actually. Unfortunately for me my training only included HTML, CSS, Flash and AS2.

Thank you for the advice on the shop-front thing. One question though, did you mean the Adobe Dreamweaver forums or do you know of a better one?

At least now you know to start an e-commerce project with a good platform. The fundamental concepts of a site's purpose can and should be developed first, but then you need to pick a platform that works with those before starting design.

It is quite possible to make good-looking websites without much knowledge of PHP or MySQL, as long as you have a resource for help (like this forum).

Unfortunately the client dragged their feet on getting me the information I needed for the eCommerce. Now I know to make that my starting point. As I have never put together an eCommerce site I had no idea going into it what was going to be needed. Now that I do I will definitely be making my next clients that want eCommerce get me the information for that first.

I have been contemplating if I should just remake the site in one of the opensource carts that are around. I put together a flowchart of how the site needs to work... hoping it might help me in my quest for understanding and completion.

This whole thing would probably be easier if my clients whole business model didn't center around the customization of their products. They sell things that get engraved and the like and need that information sent to them when the order finishes getting processed.

Adalast:

I am going to try not to take anything that was said above personally. I am fairly ignorant of the finer aspects of the background functions and I was upfront with my clients about this. By trade I am a 3d artist who took some web design classes for that were included in my 3d animation degree program. The only reason I am doing the web design work instead of Visual Effects is because that is the work I can find where I live. We all have to do something to get by in this economy, right?

I do do all of my coding in HTML and CSS and personally hate the WYSIWYG design stuff... I find it annoying actually. Unfortunately for me my training only included HTML, CSS, Flash and AS2.

Thank you for the advice on the shop-front thing. One question though, did you mean the Adobe Dreamweaver forums or do you know of a better one?

You are absolutely correct, and upon reflection, my post must be seen as a general observation, rather than any slight on your own personal proficiencies. I'm sorry if it sounded offensive.

Please accept my apologies, no offence was meant.

HOWEVER... on the issue of functionality...

What you have created in DW is quite possibly "render-able" in any good CMS, as functions are pretty universal - just that the "engine" driving the functions can be a choice of a wide variety of platforms.

There are many important considerations regarding eCommerce - a large number of them relating to issues like site security, operational integrity and extendability. You could look for a "bolt-on" system to a "flat html" site, but you will probably have to sacrifice some reliability and extendability.

What you should do at this juncture (assuming you feel ZC is appropriate technology for eCommerce), is look at "slicing" your design into Zencart. This is generally achievable, though if you are on a tight deadline you may have to "buy in" some zc expertise.

This forum has a LOT of help and advice, and despite my earlier "brash" comment, I'll willingly contribute to commentaries if I have the knowledge...

"They sell things that get engraved and the like and need that information sent to them when the order finishes getting processed."

Zen Cart has the ability for customers to input text and image files during product ordering, so this is not an obstacle.

Apology accepted School, and I assumed that the comments were a venting dialogue directed at the world as a whole rather than just me. I have a tenancy to do to the same thing.

As far as the site goes, how exactly would it work for storing the text and variable data that are needed to be communicated with the product manufacturing process once payment has been processed. I guess that is one problem I am having with understanding what I should be doing. As far as expandability goes, I really don't need too much expandability as they have stated that they are not interested in adding any more products. If/when they do decide to, that will constitute a whole new contract and I can address the concerns then. Right now we are just trying to get them up and running so they can start selling.

I did just remember another complication that they have. They are partnered with hotels for events and need the ability to give the hotel a coupon code that will take off certain items. That is probably really easy to do, but as I've stated before, I'm new to all of this and it seems complicated.

When Zen Cart processes an order, the information collecrted is stored in the database and sent to customer and admin in an e-mail. You could copy this e-mail to the manufacturer, or with more work set up a special e-mail that goes just to them with only the info they need.

ZC has a gift certificate system, and a user group discount system, so there is probably something that could be set up to work with the hotels. This will depend on the specifics of the situation.

Ok, this is sounding more and more doable. Now to assess my other options and decide on the best one. What are those "bolt-on" carts that school was talking about? They sound like what I was originally wanting where I would just add them to the template I already have made. As I stated previously, the storefront will only have 3 items in it and is not likely to be needing any more added on. So if something would make it easy to just add a few buttons to each product page and send the items and information to the cart, I would think that would be the best course of action.

A couple of years ago I came across a zencart site that had been developed for customers to customize jewellery - diamond engagement rings to be exact.

In much the same way that many webshops now have flash-driven "t-shirt designers", this site allowed customers (using a graphical, flash-driven interface), to "build" their ideal engagement ring by selecting and assembling images of different ring shapes, clasps, diamonds, etc.

When the final custom ring was ready, they clicked "Add to Cart", and the whole system would magically "build" the product specs, price it accordingly and enable everything to be added to the cart and then checked out.

I did not bookmark the URL, but it shows what can be done.

About a year ago I had a request to build a Corporate Gifts site, where the requirement was for customers to upload a company logo (or any image) that could then be overlaid and re-sized on the company's products. (I immediately thought of that jewellery site, as I needed the exact same feature...

I approched a company (well-known and respected on this forum) to give me a quote... £7,000 to £10,000. I put this to the client but as you can imagine, did not get a favourable response...

This told me two things...

1. It is possible to integrate a flash-driven customizing tool in zencart...

2. It's not a cheap exercise!

Adalast:

What are those "bolt-on" carts that school was talking about?

cartweaver.com/

I was looking at catweaver the other day actually and trying to figure out if it would be able to do what I need it to with minimal argument. I may have to revisit that and see how my clients want to procede. This project is for $3000 so it wasn't too underpriced considering what I have had to do up to this point, though the sales part is becoming a bit of a pain. It sounds like I have a few avenues to choose from, and once I figure out what it would take to do it with Cartweaver or the like, I will be able to speak with the involved parties and decide on how they want to procede.

I do have to say though, if I end up with ZC I will probably become quite annoying over the next couple weeks with questions and problems.

I do have to say thank you for all of the help thus far with my dilema. This has been the best experience I have had on any technical forum by far.

As Glen pointed out earlier, ATTRIBUTES can be used to do the "data collection" and "pricing" in the case of engraving is concerned.

If the engraving is alpha-numeric, and the store charges "by letter" or "by word", then you can create a text-field attribute formatted to append a cost to each letter (or word) entered by the customer.

I have this feature on a site that sells cakes, where the customers want a birthday greeting on a cake, such as:

Happy Birthday Barack

That is 19 letters, and we have formatted that attribute to price each letter at £1.25 - so 19 X £1.25 = £23.75, which is then ADDED to the price of the cake.

Luckilly all of their pricing is flat rate, so what is engraved is not an issue. All products will only have one price each. I think I could get this working, if i could just figure out how to make it look right to fit into the site. Would I be able to make just the 4 pages that have to do with eCommerce with ZC and leave the things like their photo gallery and contact pages how they are? Would I be able to get the ZC pages to sit inside of the HTML site in any way? Perhaps with an <iframe>. If i can do that, I would need to remove the interface completely and just leave the individual products and their accompanying text fields without any of the navigation stuff. Somehow I feel like this should be a whole lot simpler than it is shaping up to be. Is there no way to just have ZC handle the cart portion only and accept input from other HTML pages with forms on them? That's all I really need, other than the flash output portion, which should be able to be accomplished with a PHP intermediary script that is called by the Flash application and hands the variables to the cart. I don't need an interface. I don't need any navigation, search or category functions. I just need a button that puts the information from the HTML form into the cart and lets people pay for the products. Does it really need to get all complicated or is there an easier way that I am just missing?

(Sorry if this came off as a curt, I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole prospect of how to get this working. It sounds like I should be able to do everything I need with ZC, but I would love it if I could clear the superfluous clutter out.)

If we could see what you have designed it would b e easier to give you good answers.