LittleLizard Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hello all, I am new here. I hope i post this in the correct part of the forum I am a bit lost on starting my new webshop. First some backstory I have an OSCommerce store for 2 years now. I just paid someone to install and template it. In the end i got screwed over by paying to much for a very basic store with more security issues then i know how to deal with. Sales are OK but could be way better in my opinion by a more professional, userfriendly webshop. I am waiting for nearly a year now for OpenCart to finally have the stable version with the feature that i wanted. However it is still 'in progess'. I've been looking for 4 months to find a developer for it to customise it for me the way i want it. And boy is that difficult! Remembering my OSCommerce failure i am a bit more carefull who i am dealing with. And boy it seems everyone is trying to scam me! Lost of people who show me a portfolio which turns out to be not theirs at all! (Even 1 guy tried to pass off Disney work as their own..... of a movie created before they were born....) Or simply have never work with OpenCart before or try to scam me selling an OpenCart template of a template design site for 3 times as much as they buy it for. Now i am looking into Prestashop. I must say for now i am impressed. It seems to have most of the things i have to buy/download for OpenCart are standard features here. Also there seem to be a lot more people here willing to do support and more people developing it. Rather then 1 developer who i sometimes see yelling or insulting people on the forum??? Ah to long a story. Now my question: I am STILL looking for a webstore customised for the products i sell. I think i need to be more clear in defining what i want and maybe get people from multiple diciplines to do a part. So i need Advice in usability: I think i know 90% of what i want. The other 10% i hope a more experienced person will correct me A custom template for my product: A clean, professional design created and implemented A 'style' for my site. Like color use and design for the site that i can also use for business cards and template for paperwork Promitional images. I like the 'JQuery style slider' i see on the main page of many webstores Logo Now i do have decided where to create point 3 and 5. Point 4 i guess can wait till the very last. I would think to create the template first. After all you build a house first and decorate it later. But it is a website and not a house. A webstore template and layout should be build together. I could create the style of the webstore first but what it the developer cannot create that (in budget) or in reality another style is better suited? So i must say i am totally lost.... I've been munching over the best approace for 4 months now and no more clear on the way to Approach it. And i've been contacted by so many people recently who claim to 'create the perfect site, you will be very satisfied' that have ALL turned out to be scammers i am very distrustfull to continue my search like i am now. Maybe its better to know exactly what i want and just pay-per-part rather then blowing my whole budget on someone who just delivers crap (like my current shop) and runs off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhnstcks Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Go and speak to Donna over at Rainbow Studios http://www.rainbow-studios.co.uk/ or http://www.facebook.com/Rainbow.Portfolio she deals with Prestashop, Zencart and Wordpress mainly and can handle all your 5 points you mentioned above. You can also email her directly at [email protected], mention I sent you over and she might do you a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Thank you jhnstcks for posting the link But does anyone have more input of how the flow from an idea in your head to the smoothest way for someone else to make it real? How did you go by the creating of a webshop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OC2PS Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I'd been with Opencart for quite a while. I'd say the forums are more active there than here. And trust me, Opencart has improved quite a bit in the last 15-18 months or so. The multistore option that they created has created new problems though. It is also a liability that there's just one developer, and he doesn't take suggestions very well. What I'm trying to say is, I feel your pain. Next, I have dealt with OC and PS and WP and phpBB and G3 (and a bit with Joomla). But more importantly, I used to head the usability team of a large web portal till a few years ago. So I know a thing or two about it. Feel free to bounce ideas off me. Finally, it would be best for you to meet the designer in person, explain what you want, keep your ears open for good ideas they may have, and sketch stuff out on paper (with colored pencils)....you will be surprised how much heartache this will save you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hello OC2PS, I don't plan on using Multistore. Though i plan to open more stores i would be to afraid that with one screwup/hack etc all shops go down instead of one. Meeting a developer person to person is best. Hoever i live in the Netherlands. You can forget anything under 2000 euros if they are willing to put that much effort in. Yeah its well over 4 times 'internet' rate. About OpenCart. I don't really mean to put anyone down. But it does make me wonder what the future and stability of OpenCart will mean when that person gets a little to pissed of or loses interest. I find Prestashop less inituative then OpenCart though. Will it be very difficult to learn fully? And it is easy to maintain/upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OC2PS Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I find Prestashop great. It is very feature rich. Way better than Opencart. But on the other hand, there are 3 issues on which OC is better: free modules - on PS the modules are usually paid, and usually almost ridiculously priced for a fantastic opensource core. worse still, many modules do not offer free upgrades...so when you upgrade PS to the next version, good luck! admin panel simplicity - as you have pointed out, Opencart is very simple and intuitive. I'd like to point out that this refers mainly to the admin panel, and mainly to the setup process. Once you are set up and running, you don't need to deal with a lot of complexity in PS more lively community forums - I have found that (and this may just be my perception) that users are helping out users and generally forums are more active Regarding your comment on multistore, I am totally with you. This is an additional level of complexity that we can live without. It makes code complex, slow and error-prone. Even from simple business perspective it could be quite harmful (e.g. worse in Google etc) Opencart is a risk - you are at the whims and fancies of one man. If you decide to go with them you may want to contact i2Paq who is based in the Netherlands. Prestashop is very feature rich and is getting better every day. Unfortunately they have jumped on the multistore bandwagon and I hope they'll abandon this madness soon. Anyway, in terms of easy maintenance, upgrades, etc - absolutely! Michaël has been working on a Wordpress-like one-click upgrade system, which should make it a breeze. This should be available in 1.4.5 and you should be able to upgrade to 1.5.0 in December with a single click! Another great feature is the upcoming skeleton theme. If I understand correctly, this will allow creating themes simply by writing CSS files. While I haven't been able to find a ticket for this, I don't believe this will be available this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Feb 2012. I am also hoping PS will deliver a Wordpress Weaver-like theme, which would solve most theme issues once and for all. This would be a configurable theme which you could configure from your admin panel - no html, css, tpl, php files to edit...no css, php, smarty knowledge required....customizations won't break when you upgrade etc. I've been told that the team like the idea and may consider implementing it, but there are no timelines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 I like the sound of easy upgrading! Well upgrading will always break a custom module or custom template. That is what i like about Prestashop. Pretty much all that i need IS core Where in OpenCart i need lots of modules to get it to do what i want. Difficult diffult. Right now i have installed both OpenCart and Prestashop on my webspace. I guess i will try to learn Prestashop asap. I am so gonna miss the holliday season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhnstcks Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Thank you jhnstcks for posting the link But does anyone have more input of how the flow from an idea in your head to the smoothest way for someone else to make it real? How did you go by the creating of a webshop? Sketch it out on paper as OC2PS suggested, or even on photoshop/GIMP, if you can't meet the designer, phone/skype them. Most designers, if they are any good, will be able to visualise what you are talking about when you describe what you want, so shouldnt have any problems creating your webshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hah. You hit the nail on the head. I don't know what i want! Though i am bussy right now to at least make a list of functions that i do want and what i don't want. Along with some examples from other sites that i do like. I hope that a skilled designer can 'cook' with my 'ingredients' then. I can't think of a better approach. Ofcource i know a designer cannot read my mind. Just hoping that with the right questions they can work with me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhnstcks Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Ofcource i know a designer cannot read my mind. Just hoping that with the right questions they can work with me A good designer will make it look like they did read your mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickieSee Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hello. Where are you based? You're possibly best meeting with a designer face to face IMO. Can you post your OSCommerce url? Sounds harsh - but from my experience - unless you have some sort of IT skills/interest or can map out what you want from a site - chances are someone/people with the same business acumen and a large interest in the internet will eventually do it better than you. That said, there's tonnes of free info and contributions around this forum, and others, making it possible to give you something to work with when it comes to mapping out your vision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kranzler Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Hi LittleLizard, First of all, welcome to PrestaShop! I hope we'll be able to answer any and all questions you may have pertaining to your new PS storefront. I wanted to pop in and direct you to an area of the forum specifically created for these sorts of requests for developers, which you can find here. Please let me know if you have any additional questions! -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 I don't want the link to my current shop here. Google will see! But i can PM it to you. I know i won't be putting Amazon out of business but my current shop is holding out for 2 years now and actually makes me some profit. It's more that i really like doing it. I do have a carrier in IT so i have some skills. I'm just no designer of have professional usability knowledge. Everyone can tell the difference between a shop layout of a skilled designer and a 'mere hobbyist' like me It's doesn't need to be to fancy either. Just clean and professional. I install modules i need myself. Hi Mike Kranzler. I'll post there if i can actually work out what i want and am ready to hire a professional thanks. This topic is just ment for getting new ideas for approaching the subject. I wish sitting down with a developer was possible but not here where i live. I can pay the amount of money it will costs but i know it will take me to long get a profit from it. Not a good decision bussinesswise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickieSee Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Can you post a link (PM ME) to your site please? It's hard to give advice without seeing it, but if you post the link I can try . From a business perspective I think you'll have to pay for quality, or if you're lucky find someone who undervalues himself. The problem is, people seem to want a lot for nothing these days. I have a story what happened to myself that would make someones blood boil when it comes to doing ecommerce, but here isn't the time or place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjssms Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 My experience with prestashop is mixed. It is much easier to work with than oscommerce for instance and have a lot more features. But the foruns usually don´t give much support and there are same serious bugs on each upgrade. On version 1.4.4.0 not even the upgrade instalattion worked. Is normal that no ones answer your doubts or the only answers you got is from someone trying to sell their services. I usually place the solutions i found before get any replie to my posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhnstcks Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Is normal that no ones answer your doubts or the only answers you got is from someone trying to sell their services. I usually place the solutions i found before get any replie to my posts. Maybe no-one has the answer to your question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjssms Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 i am just comparing against other foruns from other tools like joomla, smf or even silverstripe where it can take same time but usually the community gives some help. In case of silverstripe i see same developers there discussing a lot of technical details with users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kranzler Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Hi pjssms, The way I see it, if you're able to answer your own questions more quickly than our community of 277,000+ members, we'd love to see more of you because you would be a great resource for others looking for help! PrestaShop is built to be accessible for people of all technical levels, which is why many answers tend more toward the layman. However, if you encounter any serious or potentially bug-related issue, we invite you to post it in the Forge to open a direct line of communication with our development team, which can give you a more technical-oriented explanation or fix. -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 Do i sense an itty-bitty sarcasm here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kranzler Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Do i sense an itty-bitty sarcasm here No, we actually really appreciate it when community members are able to help us solve issues here on the forum. With almost 300,000 registered users, it never hurts to have extra sets of eyes! -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OC2PS Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 when community members are able to help us solve issues here on the forum And that's how the community of a good opensource software should be. That's the spirit of Opensource. We don't pay for the software, so we should try to help others... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLizard Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 We are getting a little off-topic here. Noone else had info to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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