Hi,

 

I'm still learning web design, currently plodding through the photoshop tuts (website mock-ups) on the net.

 

I have done a website in xhtml/css for my local social club using notepad and now a friend of mine wants a website (with e-commerce) to give his flower nursery an online prescence.

 

I want to design him a more modern website than the social club using a mock-up in photoshop then convert to xhtml/css for the net. He understands it may take me a few months to make a design for him. I told him i wasnt sure about e-commerce and that i would find out more.

 

I'm trying to get my head around how i could implement e-commerce/shopping cart into my website design.

 

Say i did a mock-up in photoshop of a design for his future website and converted it into code ready for the net, how can you implement the e-commerce/shopping cart into it?

 

Do i add the php/mysql script to my xhtml code?

Do i download the script from a specialist e-commerce site i.e. zencart??

 

Sorry to sound a little naive but i really dont have the foggiest idea!

 

Heres hoping for your replies

 

Slinky

Your best bet is to just practice and read some documentation, and use Magento Commerce for your site, an open source solution that I've heard a lot of good things about. You never really know how to do something just by reading, you're better off installing it on a website and then playing with it first.

 

Inform your friend that he's going to need hosting with a dedicated IP address and an SSL certificate, each will be between £20 - £50 extra on top of your annual fee, but check this with your host first. He doesn't need dedicated hosting if it's only a small site, but a dedicated IP address is a must have. He also doesn't need an SSL certificate if the gateway isn't on the website, for example some gateways just forward to the bank, so if you're with Abbey, for example, you will be forwarded to the Abbey gateway, which they will be hosting, and it will be secure, so you don't have to do anything.

 

But double check everything, it takes about a week for the gateway to be set up, so your best bet is to do this a week before you start development, you will need to go to a bank and set up an electronic merchant account, they will advise you with the rest.

Hi,

 

Be carefull not to overcomplicate things by getting a shopping cart system that has loads of 'bells & whistles' that you may not need. Shop around and compare the carts. Some are template based which are quick to set up but not very flexible. Others allow you to design your shopping pages as you would like and then add 'Buy Now' buttons. If you use a payment gateway like PayPal or RBSWorldPay, you will not need the secure servers as all credit card info is handled by the Payment Gateway site.

 

Some carts are remotely hosted where you tranfer to another site for you shopping cart whilst for others you can upload the cart scripts to your website which would give you much better control.

 

Also look at cart costs. Some are based on a monthly recurring cost whereas others require only a one-off payment.

 

Regards

Not wanting to dampen your enthusiasm, but a shopping cart is one of the harder projects for any web designer to engage with - moreso if you don't understand PHP. I would recommend that you try and get a grasp of PHP. Oh, and try using Notepad++, or PSPad. To get started with PHP, you want to use a program like Wamp*, or Xampp.

 

Check this article out:

 

 

http://css-tricks.com/ecommerce-considerations/

 

*If you're using Wamp, go for version 2.0h, 2.0i is a bit broken at the moment.

Ive just set up Prestashop. Works really well, looks like the bees knees, is fast, easy to customise, great backend, loads of modules.

 

 

http://www.prestashop.com/

I am very thankful to you that U send give me way to do e-commerce