Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

For those members that are currently using Oscommerce m2.2, this thread might be of importance to you.
If you`re considering to use Oscommerce 2.2 with PHP4 support my advise would be to hold off till next year (January) when OSCommerce v3 is released.

As you may know, PHP4 life cycle is coming to an end at the end of the year, many of the applications that are PHP4 compatible will still exist, but there won`t be any support for them [only through your web hosting company].
What does this mean to us? Well in plain english, the developers of PHP4 which is PHP.org will no longer provide anyone with support on PHP4.

The reason for that is, PHP5 will be the successor to PHP4 and it`s more secure and reliable than ever.
Parallel to PHP5, Oscommerce`s developers have been working hard on a new release that will rock any shopping cart system out of it`s socks...

I`ve been fortunate to run a beta edition of Oscommerce v3 on one of my servers to see what the buzz is about, and Guess What? I like it...
Here are some of the new features that will come default on the new Shopping Cart:

• Able to add multiple images on a product for example front, back, sideview. and so forth.
• Able to generate Keywords on individual products,
• HTML editor on the products so you can modify your text and make the site look nice.
• Gift Card or Voucher processor
• Pay Pal IPN
• Google Check Out module
  
• Real time UPS / FedEx modules
• QuickBooks Integration
• and much more..
  
  The one thing that caught my eye is that it`s Search Engine Optimized and it comes with a new structure "Table-less layout"
  
  I think this by far has been one of the best Shopping Carts I`ve seen.. and for the people that want to upgrade to the new version, they have an Upgrade tool that will allow you to do that.. without having to compromise your sales...
  
  

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I`ve got an OSCommerce site in development right now with MySQL5/PHP5 and have had no problems so far. I figured I would just upgrade when the new one came out is this not a good idea?

—paula

Then you are good, for now... I think that the new shopping cart is way more powerful that the previous one. What OSCommerce package did you install? OS Commerce is very stable..not to mention it`s free and the modules are great too.. 

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

I`ve got 2.2rc1 installed and am in the process of adding the "articles" module. I`m actually beating this installation into a far bloodier submission than past projects... I`m trying to get the markup to be XHTML-strict & standards-compliant. So I`m probably already flirting with disaster as it is. But, this project isn`t for a client and I`m under no deadline so if I`m gonna screw something up this would be the installation to do it

I would like to get it up and running before too awful long though. I`d like to build at least one site that pays me more than one time.

—paula

I think if youre trying to clean up the mark up, and making it XHTML standard you are waisting your time since the new OSC release 3 come XHTML and W3C.org compliant to an extent... (do to the apllication variables it`s hard to do so).
As for the Articles module? tell me if you get it to work... I know that you can install Wordpress into OSCommerce but that is just more coding head-aches... I got tired of seeing blank pages...


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Nah there`s always a way to fix the markup. The hassle factor is enormous, but so are the SEO gains. I know enough PHP to be able to get through it without screwing up the classes, functions, variables etc. It is slow going, however. I will be very happy when open-source manages to overcome its legacy tag soup.

—paula

Well, keep me posted... Honestly, with OSC v3 just around the corner, I wouldn`t dig into the table layout since the new layout is Table less and full CSS2 compatible. But if you`re doing it to get more knowledge and experience then go for it. and keep me posted when you`re done with your long project.
 
Have you encoutered the modules bug? the one that doesn`t allow you to edit the settings? I found a fix for it, but along with the fix it created more problems...
It solves one and messes up something else.. reminds me of an American Made Car once something goes wrong everything else falls apart there after...J/K
BTW I have a question for you...email me


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Well perhaps you`re right... I`ll have to look closer at the upcoming release info. I didn`t realize the whole thing was going to be tableless-CSS2, which is pretty much exactly what I`m going for. It would be kind of dumb to spend all that time if the new release will be out before I`m even finished.

I couldn`t find a direct email address for you so I sent you a PM.

—paula

Yeah... I have the Beta Edition on a server I can send you a link.... if you wish for you to check it out... it looks exactly like the OSC2.2rc1 the only difference is that it has two templates for you to use, a Table Design and an Table-less design by default at installation it sets it to the new CSS2.0 table-less layout.. but if you`re still into tables, then you simply click on table layout and thats IT!..
The new Admin side is a must see... But what really got my attention was, the new product keyword feature... in which you enter your product and you choose the keywords for your product and then hit add product.
The multiple Image is neat but I think that adding an HTML WYSIWYG editor for the product description has its purpose.... very user friendly..


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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Oh my goodness that sounds totally SWEET. I would love to download a beta copy to play with, thank you for that offer. When is the official release? Have you found any problems with the beta release?

—paula