Attn Web Developers - Alternatives to OSCommerce

[brisbaneguy29]

This thread is aimed at web developers that can give feedback from real world experience please.

I am looking for alternatives to OSCommerce. I have used OSCommerce in the past, but I am not really a great fan of it and I would be interested in your opinions on some good alternatives.

I have 2 main criteria I would like to meet.

1) Template or theme system. I would like the skin of the cart to be implemented via a theme or template system, and activated through the admin. I think WordPress and Joomla do this very well, and this feature in a cart would be ideal. The smarty Template system would be cool too.

2) Plugins. This is really one of my pet peeves with OSC. To extend the software, you need to copy paste code throughout the installation. This is messy, time consuming, and fraught with danger. get 1 full stop out of place and the sh#t hits the fan. Also install multiple addons can be a pain, and addons do not always play nice together. Once again the way WordPress makes use of plugins is the way to go.

Your suggestions do not have to be free, I don't mind paying for decent software, but it should be a self hosted solution if possible. I have had a look at Magento, Opencart, BusinessCatalyst, ShopperPress and Joomla Virtuemart, and I would really love to hear both the good and the bad for these, and your other suggestions.

 

[john1620b]

The shopping cart system I used for my wife's and my shop (A Trade For A Trade) is OpenCart. I think it has the best code structure and admin panel design, so I also use when designing e-commerce shops for clients. In terms of your concerns:

1. OpenCart does have a template system, although it's not Smarty-based. It's pretty easy to learn though, as it's just HTML and PHP. Templates are uploaded via FTP and then you can switch between them via the admin.

2. OpenCart has many self-contained extensions, and some that require code edits. However, the recently-released vQmod system now allows for extensions that modify the code without actually modifying it. Extensions aren't installed through the admin like WordPress, but most well-written extensions are just upload-and-go.

I don't know if you'll find it the best fit, but that's my recommendation.

 

[jsm4182]

I do all my sites in Drupal now and have found the ubercart module to be one of the best ecommerce solutions. Drupal's theming is very simple for anyone who already knows web development, just html, css and php and there are lots of plugins available to accomplish all sorts of features.

 

[ChicoWeb]

Magento is built for Ecommerce. It's bloated like OSC, but there is a big support structure, and it's more modular then OSC for your plugings and themes. We do everything in Magento and Magento Enterprise now.