Working with a CMS

[James]

Hello all.

For the past few weeks, I have been evaluating various Content Management Systems that I would like to eventually integrate with my Prestashop store.

I am wondering if this is something that is of interest for others on here, and fishing to see if there will be enough interest to take this forward and maybe collaborate with others.

 

To get started I will list a few that I have looked at, and go into more detail later (I am on a rare luch break :)

 

Drupal

Fuzzy Lime

TypoLight

 

The three above are very simple content management systems that I am sure would work well (with some gentle encouragement) However before I working away, I am keen on guaging some sort of reaction here, and to discuss some of the advantages/ draw backs. For example of the top of my head licences are something I need to look at more.

 

Thoughts?

[Rain3r]

I appreciate your encouragement. CMS is for me very importat feature, that I still miss in Prestashop. I' ve thought about integration with Joomla, but it is, in my opinion, too complex system.

[James]

The joomla feature list is expancive and far more than certainly I would ever need. The three I have listed are very lightweight in comparison. They do however contain enough to get going and no where near as complex. If people are interested in going forward with something like this then I am sure we can work this out.

[Rain3r]

I agree, some simpler solution is needed.

[dax702]

I would love to see a full featured Prestashop integrated with Joomla. Virtuemart 1.1 did not deliver like it was supposed to so the very large Joomla community is still missing a good open source ecommerce integration.. 

[Pursuant]

PLEASE do NOT integrate prestashop with anything else. Presta should stand alone! Integration would be rediculously hard and unproductive...

[dax702]

I don't mean to change the stand alone version of Prestashop.  What I meant was to make a Joomla integrated component available.  Much the same way IXXO Cart has done.  IXXO is expensive though, I wouldn't ask that the integration be free.  I (and tons and tons of Joomla users) would be happy to pay a reasonable fee for a good Prestashop integration.  Zen Cart is working on right now but I was never a fan of their backend admin area. The developers of Prestashop could make a lot of money by offering such a component for Joomla since Virtuemart hasn't met many of our expectations.....

[ejectcore]

Hello

 

I will be working with several shops in the next few weeks & requirements for these shops are to include basic CMS, I realise the developers have this planned for the future, but for now I am going to try creating a module similar to the editorial homepage editor. I will then hopefully  :-X post this module in the modules section of this forum.

 

I'm sure the prestashop team will come up with a better solution, but i hope to provide a temporary solution in the next few weeks 

[James]

Having looked at the sheer amount of work involved with bridgeing CMS systems with Prestashop, I should think that it would be far more productive to build a cms system into the prestashop code base. When I talk about CMS Im talking custom landing pages for news letters, that ability to have "Special Events" pages, news pages, Customer polls, basic blogging capibilities etc etc. I have seen how the Home Page editor works, and should think that this would offer a super way in. The changes from this would be adding the administration pages in the back office (I have already done this) then adding ability to insert pages into the database, along with the url. Then the basic page written to a xml file. This is what I am looking at for the moment. If anyone else wanted to chip in with a better approach then great! lets hear it!

[dax702]

I never said integrating with Joomla would be a walk in the park  ;D I was just saying that a fully featured ecommerce component for Joomla is needed because the release of Virtuemart 1.1 left much to be desired.  And that I would happily pay $$$ for such a component.. It would be a big revenue stream for the developers of PrestaShop.

[Philippe]

 

What about CMS Made Simple that uses Smarty as well ?

[ejectcore]

I would have to disagree with CMS Made Simple it's awful :'(

messy programming & caused one of my clients loads of problems.

In fact the only standalone CMS I will now ever user is Bigmedium 2.0 (http://globalmoxie.com/index.shtml) super user friendly for web designer & there clients (it may be commercial but nothing beats it)  8)

easy to set up along side Prestashop, but unnecessary if prestashop could have basic built in CMS features

 

I would think james is on the track with extending homepage editor feature like I suggested previously.

Which I also plan on extending next week. James send me a PM to let me know where you get up to & I can assist with coding or vice versus if you end up getting further than me  :

[P55]

Hi, This is my first post, so I hope it doesn't sound like Spam 

 

I have been keeping track of prestashop for a while, and it beats any other Open Source E-commerce solution that I have tried so far  .

 

After downloading and testing the latest version yesterday, I got to thinking that maybe it could be integrated with a CMS. So, I sign up to make a suggestion, and it's already here  ;D .

 

Anyway, a couple CMS's I would suggest for integration are:

 

http://www.enanocms.org (MySQL) - Personal Favorite

http://www.jaws-project.com/ (MySQL)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/klondike (Flat File) - A very young CMS, but could quickly become one of my favorites

http://www.pluck-cms.org/ (Flat File)

 

A CMS built in to Prestashop might be better than bridging a standalone CMS, but then some people mgiht want more features, etc. and then you will be developing both a CMS and a Shopping Cart...

 

IMO, there are many factors which could affect the integration of a CMS with Prestashop. Flat file vs *SQL, for instance.

 

I'm thinking: build a CMS into the codebase, but integrate it through a modular plugin, that can be configured to use other CMS's.

 

 

[JsusSalv]

I saw this post and decided to throw my two cents in.  Hope I don't hit anyone.

 

I typically custom build CMS apps for clients.  I don't recommend complex systems such as Joomla, Mambo, or MODx.  My clients like to keep it simple.  PrestaShop already has one feature that I use, TinyMCE.  Now, before everyone frowns and throws things at me let me just say that when worked into a CMS properly, TinyMCE works wonderfully.  I am rather proficient in combining PHP, MySQL (via PDO abstraction layer), and TinyMCE and when I saw the plugin in the PrestaShop admin I got excited.  Yes, there are a great many possibilities in combining PrestaShop with Joomla, etc... but why go out of the way when PrestaShop already has something that can be expanded upon?

When I get something produced I will share some code or an example. 

 

Cheers!

[dax702]

Just because everyone's needs are different. Some can get away with a simple CMS. Others need the vast capabilities of Joomla. My only point is that there isn't a low cost integrated (fully featured) shopping cart component for Joomla. If one were to be created by PrestaShop/Magento/Livecart/whomever - it would be widely accepted and used. How do I know this? Because there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of web stores that run on Joomla and Virtuemart. Just go to the VM forum and look at all the displeasure expressed by store owners. It doesn't look like it's going to happen though. I plan to just have my shopping cart template modified to look like my Joomla website, and possibly having a shared login system too to make it easier for the customer.

[JsusSalv]

That is absolutely correct!  There are plenty disgruntled users that need help in making their products more inutitive, user-friendly, and just plain easier.  If anyone can come up with a solution for the Joomla thing then more power to you.  I'm not a big proponent for that system so I really can't say much else about it.

[dax702]

Really? For a non-coder type person, I think Joomla is the best thing in the world  ;D

[JsusSalv]

Well, when I first began coding years ago I tried it out and it didn't appeal to my logic.  I tried an upgraded version but still didn't cut it for me.  I did like MODx however, especially now taht it has AJAX natively integrated. 

Now that I can code I find it easier for me to just create an entire app for my clients.  They seem to like it.

 

Do you think it would be difficult to create a module that would work well with Joomla?

[dax702]

I'm the non-coder I was speaking of in my last post    More than just a module is needed, it has to be a fully integrated component like Virtuemart, or IXXO, there's another one too I think that is CRE Loaded in a Joomla component. Connectage is making one for Zen Cart called Cartage, still not out yet though....  I think Cartage should be a winner based on what I've heard and the active development community of Zen Cart. I've just never liked the interface for Zen all that much.

[JsusSalv]

Do you know of any companies or individuals even attempting to develop something like this outside of PrestaShop?

 

What is it about Zen that creeps you out?

[dax702]

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Zen. I just remember the backend not looking very "pretty" like many of the more modern open source carts. Everyone I come across raves about it, and there's even a quickbooks integrator. I should be fair and at least install it and play around with an installed version as opposed to a backend demo

[JsusSalv]

So is there still an interest for a group of us to band together and produce something for PrestaShop?  I could/would be an adjunct release and wouldn't need to take over PrestaShop entirely for those that would like to keep PS as a standalone product.  Who's in?  All in favour please step up to the round table.  ;D

[dax702]

That's correct, there would be an additional product called PrestaShop For Joomla and it would rival Virtuemart since most shop owners currently use that. I'd gladly pay for it (assuming of course it would include all the features of the standalone version when it's complete)

[James]

signed

[dax702]

"signed" ? ?  ???

[Pursuant]

I'm in.

[JsusSalv]

So what are people interested in creating: modules, complete application to go along with PrestaShop, combination?  What experience does everyone have with working on CMS'?  My talents are working on the PHP & MySQL bits.  If required, anyone great at Ajax, Javascript in general?

 

Knights of the PrestaShop roundtable!  (ok ok, so that's a bit much)

[TomBlack]

Hi guys and gals.

My names Tom as you probably can tell from my username ;-)

If your serious about integration with another CMS then I'd like to draw your attention to ImpressCMS http://impresscms.org

It's open source, php, mysql and also utilises Smarty. ImpressCMS is also a fairly new project like Prestashop. ImpressCMS currently has many developers who came together to make the project happen. It is a fork of another CMS called XOOPS.

If you decide not to do some kind of integration with ImpressCMS then perhaps consider some kind of authentication like OpenId or SOAP. We have two password encryption options MD5 and SHA (salt).

Thanks for listening. I can't wait to get a live version of Prestashop going and really look forward to the multiple shops implementation <--- this is what I'm waiting for :-)

[RW]

my 2 cents.
I have looked at MANY systems now..
and the most promising type of integration I found when looking at Avactis shoping cart.
They have a series of PHP include tags, so that as a designer you can include any functional component/block from the cart into your custom site.
The problem arises when you try to use these tags within your CMS because there is a required initial include files that handles sessions. This file conflicts with the CMS sessions and boom... nothing works.
However the idea is nice... to have a toolbox of components that can be included via PHP into whatever CMS you wish (given that it lets you run PHP code... I use ModX, but many other will as well.)
Is this a possibility.. can we create a method of bridging the sessions control with a CMS, and create a toolbox of tags that allow you to develop the site in a CMS while managing the sales etc.. via the backend application??

thoughts?

[radders]

I would have to agree that Joomla! is the obvious choice for a CMS integration if it were possible to adapt it to be a component of Joomla!.

I say this not only because Joomla! is powerful, easy to skin, and almost as easy to use as Prestashop but crucially it has a vast number of users and no viable alternative shopping cart (unless you count Virtuemart which imho is a horrible shopping experience). I know you can add Prestshop in an iframe but I have serious reservation about that route.

[ejectcore]

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