No swish or flash on zen cart templates?

I've been looking high and dry for a zen cart template with built in swish or flash. Willing to pay, it doesn't have to be a free template, but I can't seem to find anything that really impresses me. I'm hoping that it's my sheer ignorance -- so please correct me if I'm wrong!!

I know there's a lot of add-ons. Is it worth it to add flash features to a main stream zen cart template? Or get an impressive looking flash template and add some other generic shopping cart? I really love what I've heard so far about zen cart, so I'd like to stick with it.

My background -- been running an online store on instantestore.com. It's costing me way too much and I want an easier (cheaper solution) -- I don't mind paying costs up front, but don't want to be paying a high per-month cost when this is a part-time "fun" business on the side (the high per-month costs have now really started to add up).

I just want a nice clean professional looking website. The closest templates I've seen so far that I like are from algozone.com They just look a bit different from the norm, but would still love a full flash site if possible. Is it possible with zen cart? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

This would be impossible to configure, as each individual's needs are unique when it comes to such personalised features.

Rubik Integration (regular contributors to this forum) do have a very neat-looking "modern" template, into which a Jquery-driven feature can be neatly embedded. More details here

schoolboy:

Rubik Integration (regular contributors to this forum) do have a very neat-looking "modern" template, into which a Jquery-driven feature can be neatly embedded. More details here

I hadn't come across this website this website in my searches -- it looks pretty interesting, thanks for the suggestion!

Jquery tools seem now to be favoured ahead of flash, because they are faster and more versatile from a management point of view.

Flash is generally not a good idea on eCommerce sites, unless it is used to offer better detail for a specific product, thereby increasing that product's potential for being sold. Flash headers, banners and other "busy" avatars can be very irritating and can actually HARM a site's selling potential.

I have been involved in internet marketing and eCommerce for nearly 16 years, and in recent years, growth in competition has been exponential.

One striking reality is evident in our experiences. eCommerce sites that do well are those that focus exclusively on user efficiency, speed, clear focus, and which put PRODUCT in front of the viewer in a fast, structured and logical manner.

Simplicity (at least from the user's point of view) is the key. The quicker a site loads, and the fewer steps it takes a shopper to get what to what they are after (and check out), the more likely the sale will come to you than to your competitors.

Resist the temptation to "go fancy" just for the sake of it. Anything that slows a site down, or adds layers of unnecessary activity are detrimental to the commercial objective.

We have clients whose sites are little more than standard zencart, and who turn over huge money. We also have clients who (over the years) have insisted on fancy add-ons, and they struggle in the commercial arena.

Naturally the choice is yours. If you want your site to look like a pinball machine on steroids, that's perfectly OK. Our experience shows that speed and absolute simplicity contribute significantly to commercial success.

Thanks Schoolboy, I very much appreciate the insight. I'll take your advice -- won't be so quick to go ahead with flash. Now I just have to learn more about jquery and I'm good to go :D

Zencart is by far the world's most popular OpenSource system (if you go by the number of downloads at SourceForge, compared to other OS systems.

It is relatively easy to set up, and can be customized to "acceptable" levels with a bit more input and skill.

This forum is by far and away the most well-supported in the OS community. Over the last 6 years it has played a significant role in enhancing my own skills.

Be VERY CAREFUL of some commercial templates. Those offered by algozone and template monster fall into this category. While they do "work", they are generally so heavily customized, a lot of the core code is modified to the extent that many core functions of zencart are either removed, or altered.

When you want to add stuff to these templates, or seek forum help in doing so, you will face huge challenges, because people will give you advice based on true, core zencart code. Helpers are seldom able to "unpick" these templates, because that alone can take many hours. No-one has the time to offer that for free.

BEFORE you buy any template, come to the forum and search for opinions. There ARE some people/companies selling good templates, and the forum will reveal these. Rubik is very reliable, and as I said, they are very active in giving help and advice here.

Their free "modern zen" template is excellent. You might consider this as your starting point.

One more quick question if you don't mind -- the MageneticOne "Store Manager for Zen Cart" - I saw it on the link above and I've already downloaded the trial a few days ago. Will it make my life more difficult or easier in your opinion?

There are several "admin modues" available these days. Fundamentally, they "separate" the management of your store from the otherwise "standard" zencart administration interface. MagneticOne's process is to set up a desktop management system that connects to the database, so the administration happens completely outside of, and independently from, the zencart structure.

I am busy "evaluating" another of these systems, offered by apsona (search the forum for apsona), which does a similar job.

I think Rubik also has a system of this kind.

One of the legitimate criticisms of zencart is the "clunkiness" of the admin system. To be fair, it is mostly a legacy issue, as the fundamentals of that system were developed years ago, and with additions and enhancements over the years just simply being "woven" into that functionality has resulted in a bit of a "dog's breakfast". when you add many modules, you exacerbate this clunkiness, as the management features of add-ons is then just layered onto the top of the existing structure.

The key advantage of these "external" management systems is that they offer a more efficient interface for some of the common functions (particularly on the product management side), that can be quite tedious and time-consuming when operated under the standard ZC admin interface. Mass-uploads and mass-management of product data (especially if you have a LOT of products) is made far easier and with greater clarity on these external systems.

As to their reliability? ... well, I'm looking at this in my evaluations, but so far I am happy to say that both MagneticOne and Apsona seem to be delivering reasonably good results.

The zencart dev team has acknowledged that the admin interface needs attention, and it looks like ZC version 2 (yet to be released) will provide the kind of efficient management interface that most zenners need.

No firm date has been set for the release of V2, so one then has to consider what to do in the meantime. If you need a more efficient set of tools right away (for product data in particular), then using an external managment interface may be a logical decision.

As with all non-core add-ons, the principle of Caveat Emptor applies.