You don't know how easy you have it...

[Wayne Luke]

vBulletin has the most advanced and easiest to use templating system in the large systems that I have used recently.

Currently I am working on an online store using "The Exchange Project" (www.theexchangeproject.org).

While the engine is well written and there is good modularization in the system, the front end leaves a lot to be desired. There are no templates and the HTML is so intermixed in the PHP code that simple things like changing colors can be time consuming.

Add to this the fact that to change the standard header to do anything complex, you have to edit every file. There are no options to turn on or off features, all has to be done in the code. Sure you can adjust image sizes in the control panel but not important stuff like the HTML code.

All in all, I would say 90% of the work I have done so far is re-writing the code so that it can support a customized layout with easy updating. After I get the store online, I think I will rewrite the entire front end so that it uses database stored templates similar to vBulletin.

All in all, I haven't found a single system from e-Commerce to Auctions that is as easy to customize and update as vBulletin is.

[Fred]

Yup, one of the worst scripts I have ever used.

I tried to edit the design of it. Took me 4 days to do the index page because of the crapping coding they had in there. Then I realized that EVERY OTHER page has to be edited too. I said "to hell with it". I ain't using it.

Changing the font color is one of the most difficult tasks on that pile of code.

[tubedogg]

I don't have any experience with this particular piece of software but after spending 3 days solid testing open source CMSes I can tell you that none of them have anything approaching vBulletin's template system. Mambo has no templates whatsoever...Many of the others either don't or have very primitive template systems.

[TheComputerGuy]

wLuke you are so very true, my host quit using that as te shopping cart because it failed so much...well the point is, vbulletin is fail safe tried and true...so God Bless vBulletin...

[Kathy]

You are soooo right. I can't figure out why no one has bothered to write a shopping cart with php...with templates.

I'm still struggling with phpshop, trying to get that customized. Its *almost* ready but has been a pain in the rear. To change the nav links on each page, there is not ONE place to make the changes but one in each folder (about a dozen or so!) Its nuts.

I know that open source shop is a free program and so is phpshop, but I would be willing to buy a php store that was like vbulletin.

And while I'm dreaming, let's have the store attached to vb. Users already registered...checkout asks for the info...off they go. We can have subscriptions and they can change usergroups for money and get added benefits and access to content forums.

[chrispadfield]

Yup, i wanted a really simple to use shooping cart for deskPRO. there was just nothing out there that would do the basic things i wanted, in the end it was easier just to write it from scratch. And that was to do something simple...

[freehtml]

Re: You don't know how easy you have it...

Originally posted by wluke
vBulletin has the most advanced and easiest to use templating system in the large systems that I have used recently.

Currently I am working on an online store using "The Exchange Project" (www.theexchangeproject.org).

While the engine is well written and there is good modularization in the system, the front end leaves a lot to be desired. There are no templates and the HTML is so intermixed in the PHP code that simple things like changing colors can be time consuming.

Add to this the fact that to change the standard header to do anything complex, you have to edit every file. There are no options to turn on or off features, all has to be done in the code. Sure you can adjust image sizes in the control panel but not important stuff like the HTML code.

All in all, I would say 90% of the work I have done so far is re-writing the code so that it can support a customized layout with easy updating. After I get the store online, I think I will rewrite the entire front end so that it uses database stored templates similar to vBulletin.

All in all, I haven't found a single system from e-Commerce to Auctions that is as easy to customize and update as vBulletin is.

I used the pre-release 2.0 and my current online store ,I agreed with you although it sounds promisng, the difficulty in having our own templates is really a big minus point.

I really hope maybe someday Jelsoft will have a complete intergrated system consists of forum, portals as well as shopping cart system..all tightly intergrated and easily modified templates.

I am sure many would want to buy it..I am for sure one of them...

Instead of having to source for different scripts to intergrate with vBulletin...I am now having vBulletin as the forum software, The Exchange Project as the shopping cart and phpnuke /phpweblog as the portal...not to mantion JMKads as the banners management system...

If only all these can be tightly intergrated.....

[Pingu]

How easy we have it?!
With my coding skills I'm glad anything just works at all, intermixed as it is.
If that's easy, then I'm double blessed

But I do understand the importance of templates. In fact, when I'm looking for a new script, that or something very much like that is what I'm looking for. I will seriously reconsider before dealing with any script that I can't adapt to my likings without having to rewrite much. (Right now I'm rewriting an entire script, but I need the practice, and we already had that one running...)

And the exchange project? Me has that one running on a test site. Not to build a shop with though, but to see if we could use it for reviews and articles and such....

[Grumble]

I use The Exchange Project on one of my sites as its the only cart system I could find that seemed ideally suited for use on a music distribution website where I have over 3000 CD titles and dont need to be bogged down with too much junk on the display.

But I agree it is a real ***** to customise. You can see how I got on with it here: http://www.coprorecords.co.uk/coprodirect/

I understand that full html templating is on the agenda for a future version. But it will probably be some time coming as yet.....

[freehtml]

Originally posted by Grumble
But I agree it is a real ***** to customise. You can see how I got on with it here: http://www.coprorecords.co.uk/coprodirect/

I understand that full html templating is on the agenda for a future version. But it will probably be some time coming as yet.....

Its really look great..My store doesn't have much customization except for some text

[\/ash]

vbulletin should make there own shopping cart..

call it vShop online.... eh.

[Wayne Luke]

I do agree that TEP is one of the best scripts out there for commerce. The shop, I am currently building is going to have at least 1500 products when it opens.

Right now we are entering all those products into an Access database I built and will export them to MySQL later this week. Right now I have the entire system rewritten so that if I want to change the overall layout, all I have to edit is header.php, footer.php and stylesheet.css.

Can't wait until they add templates though.