My Monkey Do

A Log of Coding Solutions

Off the Shelf

Magento eCommerce Solution Notes

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On install

I got an error that said the php_pdo_mysql extension is required.  I added the extension to php.ini, restarted apache, and tried again.

 

I got an error similar to this:

Exception printing is disabled by default for security reasons.

Error log record number: 600807966

 

I looked around the web and found that to display errors, you need to rename MAGENTO_ROOT/errors/local.xml.sample to MAGENTO_ROOT/errors/local.xml.  Then errors can be displayed.

 

Then got an error similar to:

“SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation:  1067 Invalid default value for ‘period'”

Found the solution at:

http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/263672/

ALTER TABLE `coupon_aggregated` CHANGE COLUMN `period` `period` DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT ‘0000-00-00’

 

Finally it installed!

 

Watching the Magento U Video:

I signed up for Magento U and started to watch the video.  The first thing the developer in the video says is how difficult and frustrating Magento is…. Not very encouraging to developers starting out.  He warns of how he stayed up late nights figuring out the complexities of Magento.   That’s not too bad if it’s something you really want to learn.

However, in later videos he mentions that Magento 2 fixes some quirks in the current version of Magento.  Upon further Googling, I have found that Magento 2 is coming out in Mid – 2012.  That is maybe 7 months away from the time of this writing.   Then, the fact that breaks all backs, Magento 2 will be a total REWRITE!.  Which means everything learned today will most likely be thrown away or just used “in theory” for the future.  To me stressing out on something complex only to use it for 7 months, then learn a whole new system is not worth it.  This is why I chose to use LemonStand.

Multiple Versions of IE

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Every version of IE requires its own special little hack to make it look how it’s supposed to.  Developers can go crazy trying to fix an issue for a version of IE that only their client has.  To make things worse, you cannot install more than one version of IE on Windows.  That’s just Microsoft saying, “Spend hours and hours fixing your site for our product so we can further our profits while you rot in or discharge”.  But aha!  There is such a way to have multiple versions of IE.  Thank you!

http://www.askvg.com/how-to-run-multiple-internet-explorer-versions-simultaneously/

eCommerce Platforms

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I’m in the hunt for a e-commerce open source framework that is easy to use and easy to extend.  Wordpress is the perfect combination of easy to use and easy to extend.  It also has great community support.  Before WordPress I used ExponentCMS.  While that is a good CMS, it is nowhere near the level of WordPress.   I customized Exponent for a client and it did not turn out very well.   Research to find the best platform the first time around can save a lot of time, money, and headaches.  This post is from one day’s research.

 

Magento

Not Magneto, like I thought it said before I saw a YouTube video.  lol.  This open source eCommerce system is professional to say the least.  With all the options in the admin panel, it looks like you could create your ownl eBay/Amazon site.  Reviews have all been in line with it looking professional and being very flexible, but they have also said that it is overly complex and difficult to modify.  They have a lot of coding standards and very little support from the core developers on the forums.  Even experienced developers will have a hard time with it.   If the website is for a large client, this may be the one for you.  On a side note, Ebay has recently purchased Magento.

Scroll to the bottom of http://www.magentocommerce.com/demo and see the community demo.

 

Open Cart

This seems like it has almost as much features as Magento, but is praised by many as having an organized structure.  It follows the MVC (model view contoller) framework so it’s less complicated.  The ease of the framework lets it to be easier to extend.  Google insight shows that it is the most searched PHP open source eCommerce platform.

Demo here: http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=demonstration/demonstration

 

BigCommerce ($24/month)

Upon looking at review sites I ran into some that included commercial products.  I decided to put this here because this was named the best eCommerce platform of 2011 by a couple websites.  They feature drag and drop customization of the layout and many many other features.   I haven’t done the free trial yet, but it  seems as though they got the usability and the depth right.

A video tour is available here: http://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-solution-features.php

 

OsCommerce

I have heard some horrible things about this CMS including things like it’s out of date, table-based, and not modular.

 

ZenCart

I have heard that this shopping cart is based on osCommerce.  The performance and code is supposedly not very good.

 

LemonStand

From the demo, this PHP-based ecommerce solution looks easy to modify.  The templates seem like they are in a easy to understand structured format.  It does have some, although not that great, CMS capabilities.  The cost to use this is $300.   I have chosen to use LemonStand as my ecommerce solution. because of its simplicity in implementing custom themes.  They have great documentation that lets you jump in and start creating your online ecommerce solution.   I have some raw notes on lemonstand here.

 

Which CMS to Use?

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I recently was asked the age old question “what CMS is the best?”.  So I asked back “What will the CMS be used for?”, and of course that wasn’t specifically known.  This post is not a complete post.  It is here to jot down findings and notes about CMS’s.  Wordpress and Exponent CMS are the only two CMS’ I have tried for more than 5 minutes.  I tried Exponent and WordPress in 2007 and have not given Exponent another chance.  Since then Joomla and Drupal have become the clear competition (in terms of popularity) for WordPress.  So these three will be reviewed.  At the time of this post creation, WordPress is beating both in terms of Google Searches.

In the following lists, “Users” are people who use the CMS to put out content.  “Developers” are people who set up and/or customize the CMS for someone else to use.   And if you haven’t noticed, these are only comparing PHP open source CMS’.

WordPress

Pros

  • Very easy to pick up and learn for new users.

Cons

  • Forums have many complaints from developers.

Drupal

Pros

  • Easy for developers to pick up and learn

Cons

  • Not user friendly.  Difficult for new users to pick up and learn.
  • No WYSIWYG editor.

Joomla

Pros

  • Easy to use for Developers, Designers, and Users

Cons

  • Not as User-Friendly as WordPress.
  • Not as powerful as Drupal.

Conclusion

In conclusion from the web, it seems that WordPress is best for clients you want to impress, Drupal is best if you have a website with many features, Joomla is best if … you need something easier to use than Drupal, but more customizable than WordPress? In my own narrow opinion, WordPress has a large community creating plugins to keep you from straying to Drupal.   These plugins offer calendars, embedded video, columns, galleries, etc.  One thing that I think I’ve seen in Drupal that WordPress does not natively support (and did not find a plugin yet) is to edit different parts of a page.  For example if you wanted to have a template where you needed to edit some text on the left sidebar, the top section, and the main content, you would have trouble doing this in WordPress. I’m still doing research on how easy it would be in Drupal or Joomla.  The problem for me is that the user interface of Joomla and Drupal looks like it’s meant for IT personnel.  However, the people I’m creating a CMS for are business and secretarial personnel.  Decide for yourself and try a demo of each one and more at opensourcecms.com.

Update

Below are the up-to-date trends… Joomla and Drupal?  what’s that?