eCommerce templates hard to find

[kamakazi]

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I've been a NOF user for a few years now and am familiar with the editor etc. I'd like to upgrade my sites to use a more robust eCommerce selling pages that can automatically collect and group items in my shopping cart. I've found many take specifically target non-NOF platforms but can't seem to find ones that use NOF. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks so much. Rich

[1FugleyKiwi]

Is it a template you want, or a way of doing better ecommerece with NoF?

If the later, look at 4d Site designer, itb plays well with NoF had has an excellent ecommerce component set, as well as a huge array of other databse bits.

www.softidiom.com, 30 day trial version available.

[kamakazi]

Your question was very thought provoking. In the big picture, a better way of doing eCommerce is the answer.

However, I have significant constraints in getting started. I would prefer a template that I can integrate it into my NOF site design for a relatively low investment and as I get successful, upgrade it with more robust products. As an ex-software engineer, who has been out of the scene for way too long, my sense of balance between sloppy design and 'doing it right the first time' is in conflict.

I can't be happy with producing what I know is a bad product, even if the customer is me. With the NOF tools I have at hand, that's how I feel. I can produce a great looking sites but when it comes to actual on-line selling, what I have is seriously lacking.

Thanks for the site link. I'll check it out. @everyone else, any more suggestions would be appreciated.

Is it a template you want, or a way of doing better ecommerece with NoF?

If the later, look at 4d Site designer, itb plays well with NoF had has an excellent ecommerce component set, as well as a huge array of other databse bits.

www.softidiom.com, 30 day trial version available.

[gotFusion]

How many items do you expect to have in your store?

[RayC]

Mike's about to suggest his "Roll-Your-Own" tutorial if you don't have very many products to sell.
(I guess I've been around here too long when I can see which Tut is coming )

It's not uncommon (in fact, it's VERY common) to have the "store" actually be a separate site with links back and forth. I've got one going using the NOF e-commerce catalog, and I publish it separately from the main site and have links back and forth.

I am phasing that out now due to the extreme flakiness of the NOF E-Comm component, and am "Rolling my Own" by manually creating forms that link to Mal's and PayPal.

However, for my next ground-up site requiring e-commerce, I will be looking to use Open Cart. There might be ways to integrate it with a NOF site using I-Frames or Includes, but IMHO, it would likely function better as a stand-alone.

[gotFusion]

Mike's about to suggest his "Roll-Your-Own" tutorial if you don't have very many products to sell.
(I guess I've been around here too long when I can see which Tut is coming )

When I have the time I am going to tie the manual store option into a MySQL database with a couple of admin pages which will make a fully functioning, unlimited product, store within the product. Lots of things on the "to do" list. Hopefully I will get to this one as it would be helpful to so many. Right now I am tied into bringing 2 new http servers online which is eating up most of the time I can spare

[kamakazi]

[QUOTE=RayC;59108] It's not uncommon (in fact, it's VERY common) to have the "store" actually be a separate site with links back and forth.

@Ray
I have come to that realization as well. Since my site will be a blend of online gallery and sales site, I think that this will be best. Let each module do what it does best.

Your comment about using OpenCart, as well as a couple of other similar products, has merit and I'll investigate those avenues. The trick will be integrating them so that they have the look and feel of being an integrated site. I'm thinking that designing the store first, and then mimic the store to the gallery.

@Mike
Thank you for your feedback as well. I've been to your site over the past several weeks and reviewed it pretty throughly. To answer your question about how many items I have? The answer is a compound answer.

I have over 100 one-of-a-kind (OOAK) original works of fine art with more as I sit in my studio and paint.

Then, I have limited edition (usually 75) giclee prints, each with a signed COA. Then I can produce an unlimited number of regular edition prints of various sizes which I either have in inventory or can print on demand as orders come in. Think of a selling various T-Shirts in various sizes.

Finally, I'm considering selling digital downloadable prints but I haven't yet decided to do this yet.

I need the flexibility to allow a customer to add 1-n prints to a cart while restricting the OOAK pieces to 1 and 1 only and to combine all items into a single sale.

With the possible exception of the OOAK items, NOF eCommerce tools can't seem to do this. If I were writing this in SQL, I'd be sorting and grouping my prints into a n-tiered architecture. NOF appears to be a flat table only, though I could be wrong about this.

@everyone,
Any other thoughts and ideas are welcome. Thanks for reading this.

Rich

[RayC]

There were a couple of options posted in this thread that you would be able to integrate easier into your site. Carteweaver and Option Cart which is a catalogue script that works with Mal's for the cart.

http://forums.netobjects.com/showthr...ll=1#post59179

[kamakazi]

There were a couple of options posted in this thread that you would be able to integrate easier into your site. Carteweaver and Option Cart which is a catalogue script that works with Mal's for the cart.

http://forums.netobjects.com/showthr...ll=1#post59179

RayC may I assume you are referring to Cartweaver PHP edition? And then if so, I assume you would integrate the code as server side PHP includes in the NOF site design? Or am I missing the boat on this and it's a totally different approach?

Regarding OpenCart, I would have to use it pretty much as a stand alone site jumping back and forth between my gallery site and the sales site. I've spent a lot of time researching my options and none of them seem very easy. Plus, I'm getting very nervous about using NOF with eCommerce. I've uncovered so many bad comments related to it's use that I am considering jumping ship altogether. After all, I'm early enough in the design stage so this is the right time to do it.

Thoughts everyone?