Customizing Zen Cart and Oscommerce

Zen Cart is PHP based open source online store management system. It uses HTML components and a MySQL database. It is readily available under the GNU General Public License and supports various languages and currencies.

Zen Cart split from osCommerce and started an independent project. The two systems differ from each other due to Zen Cart's architectural changes (e.g. a template system) and a few new included features in the nucleus. Amid the modules already integrated is a Gift Certificate/Voucher module, which allows managing, creating and sending the digital coupons

Shopping for Shopping Carts: OsCommerce

One reason why I started using osCommerce is because it has already received wide patronage giving an impression of reliability. Since it’s an open source, downloadable-for-free software, it’s very suitable for people who are on a tight budget. Being an open-source software, it is also very flexible because there is always room for customization. And, if problems arise, since it is well supported by its developers, I always have people to ask. However, it took me some time to do the customization especially if I do not get any help from developers. Thus, even if it’s for free, since customization is not that easy, I still have to shed some money to hire somebody to customize it for me.

About open source ecommerce systems

Open source ecommerce systems are created by individuals or companies that want to give something back to the community. They are available to anyone to use for free, even for commercial use. Now just because they are free doesn’t mean they are limited or less powerful in any ways when compared to the paid packages. In fact, big companies have used them to build their ecommerce store that’s doing millions of transactions per day.

Magento Vs OsCommerce Comparison for Online Store Owners

Magento and osCommerce both allows store owners to maintain their online stores with minimum effort. Magento & osCommerce are eCommerce open-source shopping cart applications and both are packed with all the features needed to create a successful web store. We have composed this article to help you to know the advantages and disadvantages of each platform. So checkout the comparison of these two eCommerce applications to see which one is better for your online stores, because it is important to know when selecting your shopping cart what features you need.

osCommerce is a free open source online store-management software which is powered by very well established and responsive osCommerce community. To run any osCommerce website the web server should support the powerful PHP web scripting language and fast MySQL database. osCommerce offers a wide range of features that allows online stores to be setup fairly quickly with ease.

OsCommerce Themes and Templates

osCommerce can be used on any web hosting service that has, or allows, PHP and MySQL to be installed. The osCommerce software is available as a free download and you are free to use and modify the source code as needed. osCommerce is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, even for the non computer savvy business owner. The software makes it easy to add, delete and price items with just a few clicks. You can also set other product parameters such as listing items as out of stock, bulk pricing and discounting items. The osCommerce software is certainly one of the most customizable and flexible e-commerce solutions available.

Ecommerce Web Design: Why You Need a Sitemap?

It may not be the fanciest page of your website, but it’s an essential one. Sitemap is considered to be the directory of your online store. A text-based site map provides both users and search engines with a structured list of all of the sub-pages contained within the main domain of your site, along with links to each page. When incorporated correctly, sitemap can provide online businesses with a range of revenue-boosting advantages:

Increases the visibility of all pages of your website (for users and search engines)
Provides a straightforward navigation structures and helps customers find the product, service, or information they’re looking for.

OsCommerce - The Shopping Cart Software

Among the many open-source shopping cart software available, one of the major edges that osCommerce has is it's reputation. It's reputation of being widely patronized giving it an image of being dependable and well-supported amidst the fact that it's for free. What bothers most users when customizing with osCommerce is it is not easy to accomplish if you do not have much background in developing software. Thus, if you are planning to use osCommerce with some modifications in the code, make sure to ask for assistance.

Since it utilizes automatic web browser installation and upgrading, starting using osCommerce is very easy. Any changes done in the layout can be done easily and quickly. However, templates are not available, thus you can only do editing on the header and the footer and both the right and left columns. This does not sound so pleasing to people who intend to have to see a lot of variations in their layouts.

How to Use OS Commerce

OS Commerce is an open source shopping cart product management suite. The term "open source" means the code used is available to anyone and can be modified as you see fit. This product has been under development for some time and has a robust feature set. OS Commerce is solid and can be modified extensively with plugins and themes that will allow the site to match any look and feel while maintaining a high level of functionality. This tool can also be used to communicate to customers through an email marketing system. Using OS Commerce at a higher level should also include a professional template that creates a solid impression and doesn't distract visitors.

Advantages of Using Oscommerce

Oscommerce is shopping cart software that can be used in any web server that has installed PHP and MySQL. One of the big advantages that oscommerce has, aside from being free, is its reputation. It has become a trusted shopping cart supported by a lot of people and has been in the business for quite a long time. This combination of support and time are reasons why it is popular among a lot of people and is used by a lot of online stores.

This shopping cart software solution is freely downloaded together with its code/contributions. And since clients who make use of this software solution can modify the codes to make the software compatible with their site, Oscommerce is very suitable for any kinds of online stores. For businesses who are planning to become bigger in the future, oscommerce allows for customization and expansion with the help of professional website developers. Yes, it is suitable for any kinds of stores, from any countries and available to different kinds of nationalities, because of its multilanguage and multicurrency features.

Added to this is its being user-friendly, both to the administration and the viewers. Magento uses a shopping cart model that is very familiar, and the product catalog can be accessed using a lot of ways.