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@@burt

 

We have to be very very careful here that any images used are able to be distributed as part of a download. I am not sure about the legalities of (a) using images and ( B) what manufacturers would think of their products being used.

Very true.... you could say there are 2 ways to look at this however

 

1) actually using a manufactures name - and images of products associated with the manufacturer (as is show now in the demo). I could see huge legal hurtles with this issue.... example.... http://demo.oscommerce.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=10

 

OR

 

2) using "dummy" latin text (lorem ipsum copy) in some area's with stock photos or maybe even hire a photographer to take (what is there.... 28) the photos of "generic" product (think of your favorite TV show.... when the couldn't get approval to have the "example - Apple logo" on the laptop used in whatever scene of the TV show they make it "generic"... or call it a "Pear"... you get my point I hope...lol).

 

OR

 

3) a combination of both... where you can get easy approval (maybe where you have existing relationships) to use a logo and associated products use it.... And where you can't use stock photo or generic photos and lorem ipsum copy.

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As a shop owner I appreciate what I've gained from using OScommerce over the years. The direction that @@burt wishes to take the OSC community is the way to go. 

 

My daily tasks of maintaining my site have become easier since Gary introduced me to BS. Moving content around is much easier. With BS, a shop owner can focus more on customer service and SEO. As others have stated, the admin area needs fine tuning. Especially when it comes to updating products and categories in a shop as large as mine. Thousands of products and categories can really slow a shop down in the admin. 

 

The most frustrating to updating products and categories is the duplicate product problem. If a function such as easypopulate could be added to core code that would be great. In the recent past, I've paid developers of the OSC community make custom changes to my shop to make it faster. They deserve it. 

 

In the near future I plan to pay a developer in the OSC community to either develop a new way to import thousands of products or revamp EP. With that being said, moving forward any custom work I have done or any new addons I need developed I'll seek someone in the OSC community first. If the coder wishes to donate the custom work or addon to the community it will be at their discretion. Since I'm not a coder that will be my contribution.

 

Overall the more modular OSC becomes the easier and better. It seems to be moving in that direction.  :)

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Modular is good...also, the inclusion of "good/popular" add-ons to the core would be good...there's a reason other carts had taken over...

 

 

As a shop owner I appreciate what I've gained from using OScommerce over the years. The direction that @@burt wishes to take the OSC community is the way to go. 

 

My daily tasks of maintaining my site have become easier since Gary introduced me to BS. Moving content around is much easier. With BS, a shop owner can focus more on customer service and SEO. As others have stated, the admin area needs fine tuning. Especially when it comes to updating products and categories in a shop as large as mine. Thousands of products and categories can really slow a shop down in the admin. 

 

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osC Coders – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

------------------------------------------

 

Looking in my Monitor I see a paradise

This world that I've found

Is too good to be true

Standing here beside you

Want so much to give you

This love in my heart that I'm feeling for you

 

Let 'em say we're crazy, I don't care about that

Put your fingers on the Keyboard

Don't ever let go

Let the world around us just fall apart

Baby we can make it if we're heart to heart

 

And we can build this dream together

Standing strong forever

Nothing's gonna stop us now

And if this world runs out of coders

We'll still have each other

Nothing's gonna stop us, nothing's gonna stop us now

 

I'm so glad I found you

I'm not gonna lose you

Whatever it takes I will stay here with you

Take it to the good times

See it through the bad times

Whatever it takes is what I'm gonna do

 

.....

....

...

..

.

 

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@@burt

 

Note: add request email templates later.

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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A few observations from a simple mind of things that may be nice but probably can’t change. These comments probably say more about my ignorance than the situation, most/all of this will quickly be blown out of the water but hopefully it’s not too ridiculous:
 
  1. Far more use of common code e.g. creating a new order, post order payment processing, account/address updating. Each of these happens in several places, can each be a single common script?
    For preference the script should be simple ‘include’ code, I know the modern trend is to use ‘classes’ for everything, I find classes can be a bit tricky when you don't understand them.
    If the ‘commonised’ script has to have minor nuances depending on where it’s used it can be identified by $PHP_SELF? When making changes it would mean 1 script + 1 language file.
     
  2. Unless you are conversant with current trends, site code structures seem to be getting far more (too?) complicated all the time, ongoing OsC is getting far more complicated.
    e.g. in the ‘olden days’ if you wanted to know anything about the login script, you looked at login.php.
    Now, (if you’re not familiar with the structure) it is necessary to look in login.php plus 3 modules in includes/content/login plus 3 modules in includes/content/login/templates (+ 3 (or is it 4?) language scripts). You also have to understand/work out how these 7 modules fit together.
    It has even been necessary publish a ‘how to’ for adding a new content page?
    Is it possible to use simple ‘include’ scripts? They can still have an install and a true/false define controlled within admin?
    If the new PayPal App is an example of what the future holds, though its use may be excellent, its configuration (to one of the uninitiated) is horrendous (bit of an exaggeration but the effect is better)?
     
  3. Something that is probably totally impossible (but being naive) - it would be nice if all scripts for an add-on were in their own folder within an add-ons folder. This would make them easy to install/update/remove and to see what is installed. Most add-ons affect existing scripts,  this still has to happen but maybe they could check for the presence of the add-on and execute or not accordingly, it may make switching on/off easier (as already happens for other functionality/contents)?
    The folder could contain a document listing changed core scripts – before you say it, I know this can be easily managed anyway (if you happen to be organised).
     
  4. As soon as possible make the BS version the officially downloadable ‘current’ version making it clearly and easily available.
     
  5. Change BS to something with different connotations.

Apologies if any of this has been stated or better explained elsewhere.

 

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1. I like using the term BS as it not only refers to the software but also to ...

 

2. Over the past year and longer I have said many many times that to make things easy as in "pointy clicky" easy, it makes the codebase far more complicated.  Some people picked up on that and understood, apparently others did not.  

 

And, I fixed this for you:

 

 


Most extremely outdated add-ons affect existing scripts

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Another perception issue is the release schedule. osCommerce 2.3.1 was released in 2012; the most recent bugfix release was last year. When the releases are this old, shopowners feel that osCommerce is stale/outdated and move to other platforms that seem to be more up-to-date.

 

I suggest releasing on the same schedule as the most successful Linux distros: twice a year. You already have a Gold version of 2.3.4 that's been pretty well tested. Package that up and release it in March as 2.4. If you find bugs after the release, well that's what 2.4.1 is for. The commits that @@mattjt83 just posted can be the basis of 2.5 for release in September. Freeze the updates the month before release, test and bugfix for a month, then release. This creates the perception of a lot of activity, as well as a release that's fresh and up to date.

 

We also need to promote this schedule. Put it on the front page of the site and in the forum. Post an announcement in the forum of the new features of each new release, and encourage everyone to post when they have upgraded. This also makes shopowners aware of the need to keep their software up to date. The additional activity on the forum won't hurt.

 

Yes, this means more work. It's really not that much more work than the current system -- the updated code is being produced anyway, just the testing/debugging and packaging needs additional effort. I'm willing to commit to helping if the development team is willing to commit to a release schedule. Who's with me?

 

Regards

Jim

 

PS: Consider the hornet's nest officially kicked.

See my profile for a list of my addons and ways to get support.

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That's fine with me @@burt -- which direction are we pulling? A solid roadmap for the future would be a good start. Then we can get the bugs out....

 

Regards

Jim

See my profile for a list of my addons and ways to get support.

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As per the first post in this thread, any help that anyone can give with any of that would be very welcome.  

 

I need to liaise with the others before I can put together an official roadmap and announcement.

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Shopowners could offer some new modern product for demo?

:blink:
osCommerce based shop owner with minimal design and focused on background works. When the less is more.
Email managment with tracking pixel, package managment for shipping, stock management, warehouse managment with bar code reader, parcel shops management on 3000 pickup points without local store.

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Shopowners could offer some new modern product for demo?

 

I could probably pull together a group of aquarium related products but I'm not sure how appropriate that would be.  Perhaps we could take a page from multimixers play book and use something fairly generic and timeless...fruit, flowers, plants or some thing along those lines.  Anyone have any suggestions for the types of products or items we should focus on?

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A simple request from me - that has been omitted from all previous versions of OSC and requires to be added manually.

 

A "Continue Shopping" Button on the shopping cart page

Now running on a fully modded, Mobile Friendly 2.3.4 Store with the Excellent MTS installed - See my profile for the mods installed ..... So much thanks for all the help given along the way by forum members.

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There are lots of things that a shopowner may miss in a standard installation of oscommerce. Most of them, if not all, can be added as addons. But there are two main things that I think almost all shop admin misses: Better attribute management and the possibility to MAKE OR EDIT ORDERS.

 

The way attributes are managed in oscommerce reminds me some DOS database utilities from the 90's. And it can't handle stock of attributes unless you install QTpro.

 

But most important, for me oscommerce would be completely useless if I did not install Order Editor contribution. And this contribution has been modified by several people over the years, patch after patch, with duplicate code and (for me) a complex logic. I don't understand how after all these years Oscommerce does not include at least a basic order editor where you can change the product quantities, add or remove products at a minimum and needs a 3rd party contribution for a key feature.

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Just for testing purposes you could play with the current template system concept.

Download via GitHub:

https://github.com/osc2nuke/osCommerce-234-bootstrap/archive/template-system.zip

 

install the ht_ module "Template manager" via the admin. (default template i set to internal, what means it uses core template files).

Select in the ht_ template manager the Default template and save.

 

Screenshot of the ht_ template manager: https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/5169035/6107222/2b6d2d8a-b069-11e4-80d8-acb64723daff.png

 

Make any changes inside the includes/templates/Default folder.

 

For die hards, try to make your own template, just copy the Default folder and rename it to your own template name.

 

@wHiTeHaT

 

I am having a little play with the template.

 

Why is there 2 options for the template 'Internal' & 'Default' when there is only 1 template folder???

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@@wHiTeHaT Downloaded, took a look at the files, will put on Uniserver later, but right off this looks like it opens the door to a shop owner just dropping a compatible template, commercial or free add-on, in the templates folder and there you go. And more than one template if the shop owner so chooses.

I am not a professional webmaster or PHP coder by background or training but I will try to help as best I can.

I remember what it was like when I first started with osC. It can be overwhelming.

However, I strongly recommend considering hiring a professional for extensive site modifications, site cleaning, etc.

There are several good pros here on osCommerce. Look around, you'll figure out who they are.

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@@wHiTeHaT OK. Great work on taking this forward. I have to ask, how much of a leap is it to apply individual templates to individual modules? If a shop owner would want a particular part of the shop templated differently? Just wondering is all.

I am not a professional webmaster or PHP coder by background or training but I will try to help as best I can.

I remember what it was like when I first started with osC. It can be overwhelming.

However, I strongly recommend considering hiring a professional for extensive site modifications, site cleaning, etc.

There are several good pros here on osCommerce. Look around, you'll figure out who they are.

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Making my own template was easy enough.

 

post-231701-0-55721200-1424016618_thumb.jpg

 

Now I'll have to see what I can do within my own template.

I am not a professional webmaster or PHP coder by background or training but I will try to help as best I can.

I remember what it was like when I first started with osC. It can be overwhelming.

However, I strongly recommend considering hiring a professional for extensive site modifications, site cleaning, etc.

There are several good pros here on osCommerce. Look around, you'll figure out who they are.

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