Hi guys, thanks for all the help so far... Loving web design atm cant get enough aha so basically i feel quite comfortable with writing html css etc and creating an 'informational' website and feel quite limited in the websites i can make and have always wanted to make an ecommerce site to see how hard/easy it actually is. Can anyone reccommend any software/guides/videos on how I can do this? Ive googled it numerous times but the guides seem no help so maybe you guys can help? thanks:D

If you are looking to learn you can check these free videos

 

 

 

but most of the developers dont make ecommerce websites from scratch.. instead they use some pre built free e commerce softwares like opencart,magento,zencart,prestashop to mention few and edit the code to match the theme

... for good reason too. When I first started I did built my own platform from scratch that did exactly what the customer wanted, no more, no less. Training was easy, customer was happy etc. However, with that comes additional development costs when quoting, and you could price yourselfout of the job. Also, as I got bigger clients their requirements increased greatly, hence development time. After one absolutely knightmarish client (which I'll write a book about when I retire lol) I decided to cave in and use open source software for ecommerce sites as standard. Honestly, wish I'd done this from the get go. Less development, lots of plugin around etc.

 

The one point I'd stress is that don;t just jump into it because you can code a HTML theme using say Magento. You need to underatand what the softeware is doing behind the scenes so you can troi8bleshoot, offer bespoke features etc. I use Opencart at the minute as it has low hosting requirements, is fast to develop in and has a manageable admin area that clients can understand after their short training session.

 

However, if you're learning I would advise writing one scratch completely as you'll learn tons and appreciate how complex even the simplist looking ecommerce stores are.

 

I just want to quickly jump in on this one. Aside from writing a platform from scratch (which I agree, would be the best way about it) as you're experienced in both Magento and Opencart, which would you say of the two is more 'designer' friendly? I'm not speaking for a friend, as that designer type is me.

 

Haven't tackled an exclusive eCommerce site and I've been testing the water of Woocommerce, Prestashop and a few others. At the moment, Magento looks fantastic but I don't know how much of it I'll be able to configure with a reasonable learning curve. Shopify appeals to my preference but one of the eCommerce sites I want to do it for is a small startup - monthly costs and 2% transactions fees are a no-no at this stage.

Oooo okay thanks guys.. got my next few weeks sorted then gna tackle that haha... learnt so much from this website... once again thanks guys!

If you're wanting to experiment without the wait of uploading, i'd suggest Xampp with this until you perfect it, then throw it all on the web and link us! :-D

 

My Choice of Ecommerce software is definately OSCommerce, Magneto, and OpenCart.

I think osCommerce is good, function rich and can customise easily, they use layout/theme concept so its real easy.

I think one of the most widely used one?

Anyway good luck in the setup, and let me know if I can be any help