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[Tabula_Rasa]

The contribution system on osCommerce as of MS 2.2 has worked well to leverage the power of osCommerce despite cumbersome code, archaic coding methods, conflicts and all the rest. As of 2.3.1, the contribution system, designed for MS 2.2, is now failing badly. Many contributions are being released as contributions for 2.3.1 when, (1) they're mods of 2.2 and (2) they don't work, or don't work well. Further, for some reason, many contributions aren't playing well with others even more than usual.

Lastly, it's not clear which contributions ARE working with 2.3.1 and which are not.

I suggest the following for the survival of osCommerce as a viable platform with community support:

(1) Immediately archive the entire "contribution" section of the site as well as all forums about the contributions as ONLY related to MS 2.2, RCA, etc. Start TWO new contribution lists: Alpha/Beta and "Released." Allow "Released" contributions to be rated and voted out back to "Alpha/Beta." This is a peer review (remember community?) of contributions ready for 2.3.1. The idea is a 2.3.1 list of contributions that absolutely WORKS and a list of contributions that still need to be worked ON.

(2) Allow comments on the contributions. Critiques. This should be separate from forum conversation. This should be a critique on the programming, itself. It's about sending a programmer back to the drawing board, or showing a programmer what to do when they DO improve their reputation.

(3) osCommerce needs to STOP reacting to forks (including osQuantum). Either improve, or get out of the way so that the VERY strong community can improve. This application started out as one that worked with nested tables on VERY old browsers. It became a Frankenstein Monster. With 2.3.1, it became dysfunctional: An ATTEMPT to be table-less with a LOT of tables and JQuery script that cannot be changed on the front end without destroying the admin. Really? The design depends on YOUR JQuery CSS? [img]http://forums.oscommerce.com//public/style_emoticons/default/wink.png[/img] LOL!

(4) We need to rethink this. If we don't and osCommerce doesn't, the other solution is to do this from scratch with WordPress ease and foresight. [img]http://forums.oscommerce.com//public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.png[/img]

(5) ONE page checkout with optional registration. Is that TOO MUCH to ask? [img]http://forums.oscommerce.com//public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.png[/img] It was SUPPOSED to be tableless? That's ok: My client is paying me to come up with a solution and I can resell it. That's what osCommerce has become?

Sean Rice

Edited by Jan Zonjee, 11 September 2011, 21:29.
thanks for not spamming