Garys Process for Building osCommerce
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Joe asks;
…was wondering if you have a process you could share which lists the order of doing things for a new site, including the most popular add ons. I keep having to hand code everything mainly due to the fact I have done things in the wrong order and end up breaking previous contribs…
What I do is keep a version of osCommerce as a backup. It has no contributions added except stuff that I have coded up myself. I've also stripped out a lot of redundant features and a lot of un-needed html code…
So, I took the basic osCommerce RC2a, and then I;
1. added a "class" to each of the 3 columns in all the base files. To allow me to make qa new design easily
2. stripped out a buynch of HTML from those same pages
3. added my own coupons modification
4. added my own ban customers modification
5. added my own featured products modification
6. added small and large images for each product
7. added a jQuery wysiwyg editor for product descriptions
8. added more jQuery stuff: image popup in product page, fadeout best-sellers, small change to advanced search page, small change in the create_account page
9. I streamlined the checkout process by removing a couple of redundant pages
10. I added my own version of Category based Meta Tags (admin and shop)
11. I added my own version of Product Page Meta Tags (admin and shop)
12. Various minor changes (let's see what we ahve here is gone, awful clipart is all gone etc)
13. Added my own idea about showing better special prices
14. Removed the useless "reviews" system and a load of the useless infoboxes
What the above is, is basically a clean, stripped down osCommerce with NO contributions added except for those which are my own.
I keep a clean copy of this, and a database. When I come up with more of my own stuff it gets added. When I need to build a site I just take another copy of this, and start work on it. That way, my clients get to have an osCommerce that works as it should do, without the fear of contributions breaking the codebase.
It works well for me!
This is why I have this site bookmarked and visit it regularly….the tips are invaluable for those who want/need a stronger base knowledge of osC. Thanks again, Gary.
Comment by Edene — November 7, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
Awesome Info there. Thanks again Gary for all the tips you give
Comment by Cassie — November 8, 2008 @ 1:25 am
Hi Gary, is this the same version that's included in the "localhost" package from oscbooks.com? (wink)
Comment by Ronaldinho53 — November 10, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
is your streamlines checkout process a contribution or a post on here that people can read about?> Because the ONLY thing i really hate about oscommerce, is that darn checkout
Comment by lindsayanng — December 22, 2008 @ 2:50 am
Linds – it's a very old contribution that I have taken and updated a bit. I think it's called "logicla checkout" (something like that anyway).
There are a couple of 1 page checkouts available now, but they are all very buggy.
Comment by Gary — December 22, 2008 @ 12:31 pm