removing login info

Ajeh:

This is on the list of things to do ... it is not on Today's list of things to do ...

If you need it Today ... feel free to write this now for yourself or post in the Commercial Help Wanted and someone can write this code for you Today ...

But as to the Zen Cart Development Team saying "we won't do this" is not true ...

What we said was, we won't do this Today ... but you are free to do so at your leisure ... :cool:

If you were selling this as a commercial product you would lose sales because of the login / registration issue.

Where I can persuade the client that user registration is necessary then Zen Cart gets installed otherwise I go elsewhere and so does the clients money.

I have no issue with the implied statement 'If you don't like it, go somewhere else', we all have a choice, but most of my clients are small businesses who use PayPal and not direct credit card processing. Therefore the user experience can be frustrating with the need to enter login information more than once. As a consequence sales are being lost because of this. No dodgy **** stuff either as implied earlier.

In my opnion the customer is always right and the customer is driving the user registration issue by voting with their feet and going elswhere losing my clients potential sales to competitors.

So its on your todo list but not today. well I won't be holding my breath while you keep your heads buried in the sand. I get the impression that after the first huge effort in getting Zen Cart to where it is now, it's now too much of an effort to give users what they want.

tonybanjo,

I am only a poster here and not part of the dev team in any manner. I do not see why you & others continue to flame this issue.

Where I can persuade the client that user registration is necessary then Zen Cart gets installed otherwise I go elsewhere and so does the clients money.
As you appear, from your statement, to have clients, it might behove you to code this for them....and as this is an open source community, then contribute it for others to use...You are here for a reason, as I suppose you have used other open source carts and there must be some reason that you you are not there. I theorize that you have possibly found that except for this issue, you are finding that ZenCart is more complete and somewhat simpler to work with than the others.

What ever the reason, you have been given a few options like write it yourself and/or post in the commercial area and have someone write it for you. I would hope that this was clear but for some other reason you continue to flame the issue and attempt to badger the development team for an issue that is important to you without considering the many issues that they face. You want your issue to be the most important.

So its on your todo list but not today. well I won't be holding my breath while you keep your heads buried in the sand. I get the impression that after the first huge effort in getting Zen Cart to where it is now, it's now too much of an effort to give users what they want.I suggest to you that you either buck up and write it, pay some to write it and cease with your petty admonishments and attempts to make your issue paramount.

As you state, "we all have a choice", so why are you here if this is so important to you?
Why are you not doing something constructive about it?
No, instead, you want to make demeaning remarks about the development team and their priorities.
Get off it, and make a positive contribution to the community!

I have to agree with Kobra, Tony. There is no need to get nasty on the board. The point of this thread is not to yell at the dev team, which has done a great job on this entire project. The point is to get opinions from everyone on the change to make the login an option thing for users. As Dr. Byte said, they will add it to their list and when they get a chance they will add it. For now the change is simple, in the create_account.php file is an if statement checking the email address for an existing record. Modify that to however you want to setup your login, either optional or not at all and modify the form to remove the password and such. Like kobra said change the code yourself for now or wait until the dev team can make the changes for you.

Kamino84

I'll throw in my two cents. I would like the option to turn off the requirement for creating an account. It is the first thing my client asked me to remove. I will add my request here that the dev team consider rewriting the core to make this optional. It would also be nice to have the option to determine exactly what is required and not required in terms of the input form. We don't need phone number, and it shouldn't require a hack to remove this from the form.

I would suggest that people recognize that there are many configurations of a shopping cart and they often don't fit the standard paradigm of many products/return customers. For example I am using the cart for one time donations for a charity. I am using zen because the deliverable is a one time download mp3. I don't need login because they are not going to return again. Login determines now that they are allowed to download, but it doesn't have to be that way. The cart could just pass all customers to delivery url that can only be accessed by completing the payment process.

In any event. The request is in. Many developers seem to need/want this option. The client and the customers are requesting this as well. Simplifying the procedure for purchasing online is always a good thing.

Please take a look at the development roadmap,

Ajeh and DrByte both said it will be added just not right now,

If Im not mistaken its supposed to be somewhere around 1.5

Sorry, can't let a sleping cow-patty lie.

I'm currently chairman of one charity's board and former chair of two others. If I've got a chance to get a contributor to return for ANY reason, you can bet I'll take it. Show me the names!

I think you might need to come up with a figure for "many" if you want this one bumped up a notch.

Reminds me of a friend who got a job two blocks from his house. Two weeks later, he was complaining that the car's air conditioner didn't have enough time to cool off.

I think you guys are wanting to use a car for your two-block walk.

Well, this thread, regardless of outcome, has drawn interest. SO----

I would lke to offer FREE for one week GIFT COUPONS worth $5.00 each at my site!

1. You'll have to register, of course.
2. Then get a confirmation e-mail.
3. Within 24 hours I'll send you a Coupon Number.
4. Then return to the site, and reenter your e-mail and password
5. Select item, etc, use the coupon code and download your product.

THIS PERIOD IS ONE WEEK FROM THE DATE OF THIS POST AND APPLIES ONLY TO DOWNLOADABLE ITEMS:onfire:

REASON:

1. Test the interest in ONE OF A KIND INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLY HERE: ibond2u.com and see if FREE "overrides" the time it takes for registration.

2. Critique my site (of course). No I'm not color-blind, just not used to color coordination.

My site contains mostly law enforcement information (still building from my personal library).

Thanks Zenners!

You could combine these two steps:

2. Then get a confirmation e-mail.
3. Within 24 hours I'll send you a Coupon Number.

by creating and activating a new customer coupon. that way the coupon code is included with the registration e-mail.

just a thought.

ibond2u,

Clyde make a good suggestion, and keeps the steps for your potential customers at a minimum.

And actually you have gendered a great "scheme" to try to foster traffic...

I like the concept of your site...yes I would work on the color combinations either mostly complementary to make each element stand out, or harmonious colors with a contrasting color to give emphasis to the item or part of the design.

ibond2u:

Well, this thread, regardless of outcome, has drawn interest. SO----

I would lke to offer FREE for one week GIFT COUPONS worth $5.00 each at my site!

1. You'll have to register, of course.
2. Then get a confirmation e-mail.
3. Within 24 hours I'll send you a Coupon Number.
4. Then return to the site, and reenter your e-mail and password
5. Select item, etc, use the coupon code and download your product.

THIS PERIOD IS ONE WEEK FROM THE DATE OF THIS POST AND APPLIES ONLY TO DOWNLOADABLE ITEMS:onfire:

REASON:

1. Test the interest in ONE OF A KIND INFORMATION AVAILABLE ONLY HERE: ibond2u.com and see if FREE "overrides" the time it takes for registration.

2. Critique my site (of course). No I'm not color-blind, just not used to color coordination.

My site contains mostly law enforcement information (still building from my personal library).

Thanks Zenners!

I started doing this a few days ago, but a little differently.... I installed the "How did you hear about us?" mod. Then I moved it to the top of my create account page. I named the whole fieldset "Wanna get some free buttons?" (I sell buttons/pins/badges by the way). Then I offered a free button with their first order if they tell me where they heard about me. Then I offer another free button for simply following through with their order. Then I go even further and offer another free button for any order over $10. That's 3 buttons out of my pocket, but it's worth it. If they got as far as wanting to checkout, then they obviously have an interest in purchasing and why not get 3 free items?

I don't see why it's such a big deal to join. The only extra thing you really have to type in is a password. And if you don't ever want to come back you don't have to. It's really sad that someone would run away because they have to think of a 4 character password. I personally have never abandoned a cart for having to sign up. It's not a bother to me. I have abandoned carts 98% of the time because shipping was sky high and I thought I could find another site with cheaper shipping. I can also see where shortening the whole process would help, but I don't think the Zen Cart checkout is too long. It's all completely necessary (for people who don't sell downloads and that sort of thing). I'd love to say "All those whiny crybaby shoppers shouldn't be shopping online if all of this is a bother", but then I'm not supposed to say that, am I?

There's too much complaining going on in this world over the stupidest things.
My two cents. Now go ahead and bash me...

-April

I wanted to share something that I did to my site that seems to have helped the abandoned cart situation a little. I noticed a lot of people leaving once they got to the sign up page and I thought there has got to be a way to make them feel more comfortable with this. So this is what I have done....

Instead of making them feel like they are creating an account, why not make something else the more dominant theme on that page, which is that they are entering their billing information. All they are doing is entering their billing information and they happen to be adding a password to it.

On the login page, you have the login box on the left and the sign up box on the right. I changed the sign up box on the right to say:

"New Customers: Enter Billing Info---------------------------------
Welcome and thanks for visiting us! To continue, click on "enter billing information".
After you place an order with us, you'll always be able to track the status of your current orders and review your previous orders."

Instead of the usual button that says "sign up", my button now says "enter billing information". When you click on it, you go to the normal "create account" page, except my page has an image on the top that says "Enter Billing Information" and underneath that is says "PLEASE CONTINUE BY ENTERING YOUR BILLING INFORMATION BELOW."

Now I go on to offer a free gift with the order, they enter their info, they enter a password. Now I figured, once they got to the password field, they'd think "What the hell, I got this far. I might as well continue!" Underneath the password field, I remind them that they will not be spammed, this is solely for them to track current and previous orders, etc. An optional newsletter field follows. They hit enter and are taken to the "Success" page, where I have two buttons. One says "If you were in the process of checking out, click here to go to the shipping information page". The other button says "If you were not checking out, please click here to return to the home page."

The whole point is that you are taking the emphasis away from "signing up" and putting it more on "entering billing information". Although I myself am smart enough to see that I am "signing up" since I am entering a password, some people don't see things that way. I don't see a problem with this as long as I stand by my promise to not spam people, which I fully intend to stand by. I have had a lot of new sign ups all of a sudden and I have noticed through "user tracking" that people have been coming back, signing in, and checking on their order (even though they received the shipping email). It just seems there are many times in life where if you just word it a different way, it changes peoples perspectives. "I'm not fat, I'm just big-boned!"

Does anyone see a problem with this that I may have missed? I'm always ready for criticism, so lemme have it.....

(and a quick note: I had 6 people join before I made these changes. After the change...... 19.)

I think you have hit a great idea here. As a matter of fact I am going to share your post with a couple clients who might benefit from this change as well.

Thanks for sharing your solution !

Hi,
I want to make the login optional for my customers. While I would prefer that they all signed up for accounts, there are many in my client base that would not be happy about this. I am, however, a bit unclear as to how to edit the code, and in which files to edit the code to make the login optional. If anyone could give me clear instructions, I'd appreciate it.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

saddlebred:

Hi,
I want to make the login optional for my customers. While I would prefer that they all signed up for accounts, there are many in my client base that would not be happy about this. I am, however, a bit unclear as to how to edit the code, and in which files to edit the code to make the login optional. If anyone could give me clear instructions, I'd appreciate it.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Hi Melissa,

There is no way to make it optional. Zen Cart does not currently support this.

craftzombie:

Hi Melissa,

There is no way to make it optional. Zen Cart does not currently support this.
Okay, I understand that it is not currently supported, but I've seen mention, in this thread, about how to edit the code so that it is not required. The instructions were not clear. First there was mention of simpling editing 2 files, but no mention of which 2 to edit, then there was mention of editing the creat_account.php file, but there are a couple of files named creat_account.php located in different directories. So, now I'm really confused.
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Craftzombie hit on exactly what I need. The majority of this thread was giving me a headache and I was wondering if I was going to find a solution to the create an account thing - something that would lose my company the majority of it's online customers.

I've got a mortuary florist shop to put up. These products need to be selected but they aren't going anywhere. The customers just want to select flowers for someone's service - usually because they are not local and want to pay their respects. They are probably not going to be a return customer in the near future and don't want the hassle of a login/password. That kind of thing makes a lot of our customers nervous. This is a tough industry. People don't want to face the fact that their family and friends died. When selecting flowers for a funeral they just want to choose the flowers, choose a sentiment or write one, enter their card and billing info and get a confirmation email. If they have to do much more than that the sale is lost.

All the assuming that the majority of vendors do have return customers may be correct but doesn't address the concerns of those of us who don't and neither does the arguing. Kudos to Craftzombie for getting to the heart of this for those of us who require another solution for our company's customers.

Craftzombie, this might work for me. At least it might make it a bit less intimidating. One question, though. On my login page, I have the login where they enter their email and password. then there is the form to fill out to creat an account, not a signup button. Where would I change this to be a button, instead of the form. I think customers wold be a bit suspicious if there was just the form there.
Thanks,
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

saddlebred:

Craftzombie, this might work for me. At least it might make it a bit less intimidating. One question, though. On my login page, I have the login where they enter their email and password. then there is the form to fill out to creat an account, not a signup button. Where would I change this to be a button, instead of the form. I think customers wold be a bit suspicious if there was just the form there.
Thanks,
Melissa
http://store.equineshop.biz

Melissa, I forogt to mention that I am using the "Split Login" mod found in the downloads section. This mod gives you a login box on the left and a sign up box on the right instead of the page you currently have. Then I changed the sign up box on the right to an "enter billing info" box.

the Split Login mod is here: http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_47&products_id=169

You could even put a note on the create account page that says something like "We have added a login feature for your convenience. Enter a password and you'll never have to see this page ever again! Yay!"

The "for your convenience" part is the heart of this whole topic. Although there are certain benefits for us obviously, the main benefit is and always has been FOR THE CUSTOMER. We just need a good way to let them know this.

"In case you ever come back......you can just log in"
"We don't want you to get carpal tunnel from too much typing..... you can just log in"
"We will bribe you with a coupon if you enter a password!"
"We will give you a free gift if you enter a password!"

"JUST ENTER A DAMN PASSWORD ALREADY! IT TAKES 2 SECONDS!"

Okay, maybe not the last one, but I can dream can't I?

(also, someone previously said that its too much of a hassle for customers to remember another password. am I the only one who uses the same password on every site?)