Zen cart too Complicated according to my friend

I hear from other people, about their opinions on the Zen cart

they say

The Zen Cart is good.
But
It is too Complicated. too many thing which most people did not use it.
and also
some part of the Zen cart is not easy to use.

this is what my friend told me.

what do you think.
and how is the best answer for this

can we point it to some modules or modifications to make the opinion changed to more positive things ?

Thanks

Every store is unique, so it depends on your needs and technical skills. Like anything, there will be a learning curve. But you must keep in mind that Zen-Cart is open source, free software. In addition, it is always evolving, future developments are on the horizon. The admin section may be a little confusing now, but this will change in the near future.

In my opinion, Zen-Cart is invaluable. Sure it has its awkward moments, but its functionality and scalability surpasses many commercial shopping carts. In addition, Zen-Cart has a great community and team of developers to back it up. Not many commercial carts can say the same.

Why not try it out and see for yourself?

--Edit--

It is too Complicated. too many thing which most people did not use it.
A good shopping cart tailors to any store. Just because one person won't use a certain set of features, does not mean it is useless. Everybody has different needs. It's better that a shopping cart has many features as oppose to very little features.

There is always a conflict between out-of-the-box features and lean code.

The people at osCommerce talk about "bloat" and tout the "lean core", which is fine if you are comfortable actually installing a mod for every function beyond rock bottom.

People can argue about which features should be part of the core (one recent discussion had some experienced people's "must-have" lists totally different from others'); I think things that are really useful that can be "out of the flow" and not take up processing time when disabled are ok to be in the core. (Server storage space is not likely to be a real issue here.) Yes, there are things I wish would go away, but the worst they do is take up space in the admin menus.

Also, some features are trickier to add than others, and having difficult ones already present even if turned off while keeping easy ones separate may be a consideration.

Some features do currently cause resource hogging, but those are being worked on and will be much faster in the next version.

Having recently spent quite a lot of time with the zencart code I am certainly left with the impression that most stores will only use a fraction of what is there. However, as far as I can tell zencart is attempting to be as comprehensive as possible and this is the natural result of that.

Things like the language issue, clearly the ability to have multiple language adds a whole new level of complexity, and probably for people in countries like the UK and the US this is annoying bloat that slows down their store and makes programming more complicated. However, for a Swiss store (for example), where they have three official languages it is probably indispensible.

The other thing about the software is it seems like the designers have the admirable aim of making a sophisticated shopping cart which is highly customisible by non-technical people. Inevitably this leads to a lot more code, because it means the site needs to be configurable from a user interface.

My philosophy is that with zencart the delete button is your friend.

Yes, re the languages, I read in a review somewhere a complaint about the complexity introduced by Zen Cart "trying" to be multi-lingual. Well, it's not just "trying", it is fully multi-lingual.

Absolutely indispensable if you need multiple languages, useless if not, but impossible to add on if not part of the core.

:D It will always come back to the same arguments - we are darned if we do and darned if we don't. At any given time some of the people will be raving and some will be griping. Sorry we can't make everyone happy, so we follow the path we have set for ourselves.

So, if there are things you don't like right now - keep watching they are changing. (Won't guarantee they are going to please everyone though)

A few years ago, someone asked me for help with her website. She was selling items online by having customers select items, print an order form and then mail it to her with payment. I took it from there to an HTML site with PayPal "add to cart" buttons. Finding that limiting and hard to maintain, I started looking around for a shopping cart program. After looking at several that required purchase, I discovered open source carts. I tried several and found Zen Cart the easiest to use. If you'd like to see the result, take a look at the Holzheimer site in my sig. I add products to the site regularly when she sends me new proof sheets and it takes a fraction of the time it would for the old HTML sites. If/when she wants to expand into other categories, I can add them for her in a matter of minutes, not days.

Add to that, the forum is one of the best I've seen. When I tried the other carts, I also tried their community. I think the number of posts I've made on this forum tells the tale.

Just my 2 cents. :smile:

I could pretty much quote Mary Ellen's replay above as my own, except that the store that got me into Zen Cart was my own. I too tried other carts, and Buy Now buttons, and other such simple approaches, but ran afoul of their limitations pretty quickly. And I also tried other cart's forums, with dismal results. The Zen Cart forum is one of the most positive aspects of using Zen Cart.

As for complexity, I can't fault Zen Cart of its developers on that count, for all the reasons stated above. But, the very first thing I did - after becoming marginally familiar with ZC in its default state - was to turn off a lot of things, starting with the right sideboxes. I simplified, simplified, and simplified some more. Then, whenever I realized I really should be using something I had turned off, I' d turn it back on. But if I now have what looks like complexity, at least it's complexity by demand, not by default.

I see a lot of ZC stores by new comers that look like everything is still on, even things they're not using. So my advice, unasked for as usual, is to turn lots of stuff off, and only turn bits of it back on when you know you really need it.

Rob

utomo, if you stick around here, before long you'll be posting to the "Features Wish List" forum saying, "I wish the cart did <X>." :smile:

Kim:

So, if there are things you don't like right now - keep watching they are changing.

LOL! This is an unwritten law of software - "if you don't like it, just be patient because it will change soon." :smile:

Isn't that what they say about the weather in San Francisco as well? :laugh:

All I can say, that after dealing with another cart that we'll just call OSC, Zen is the one to get and trust.

You are only limited by your dreams.

The first step is to wake up.

I just have to say I absolutely love Zencart!

This is going to sound so ridiculous, but what little I new of CSS/HTML I learned from changing my Myspace profile so much out of pure boredom. Ah, yes Myspace taught me all about divs...

Yes there was a bit of a learning curve, since I didn't know alot, but I have learned SO much now, and I guess I didn't really think anything of it until I realized that my friends are now calling me the nerd of the group.

AND contrary to what some people will say, you do NOT need to spend almost $9000 for a custom site, because a shopping cart will always look like a shopping cart....

Simply not true!

I have seen some sites built with Zencart that are just amazing!

So yes, Zencart is awesome!

Utomo, if you think that Zencart is too complicated for you then you are probably right!
How does this help?

If you are not a web deisgner or developer in any sense (and do not wish to be) then trying to get Zencart to 'do what you want' might be a frustrating exercise depending on what you want to do. If you are looking to just run your business online, then out source the work to someone with experience and work to your own strengths.

If you have some XHTML+CSS experience and wish to develop your own store then stick with it. Look at the date I joined!

I promise you I wrestled with almost everything and nearly tore my hair out trying to get the store working as I wanted. It took me at least 6 months to get a handle on how the cart worked and that was the basics.

I would start by learning how to run a local webserver and then how to install Zencart cleanly.
Then I would recommend looking at some of the simpler templates (ie non complex, a lot of hard work goes into making these templates appear simple).
Perhaps future zen and some of the jadefish designs. Kuroi has just about designed a tutorial by adding futre zen. This will give your store a different look mostly just using CSS. It is also an excellent intro into sliding doors column design (you'll notice that the rounded corners appear to extend to surround the categories column however long it gets).
Use the free templates and the CSS to get a feel for the over-ride system, make sure that you follow the mod designers instructions enough times and you will truly begin to learn how to start designing your own templates.
There are some excellent wysiwyg css editors that can speed the job no end. Just make sure that if you decide to use one that it adheres to the CSS standards.

Put into perspective what you are acheiving everytime that you have some success: you are building an online e-commerce store that is potentially visible worldwide. This is no small thing.
Anyone who remembers the web of the mid 90's will certainly attest to this. The idea of a free shopping cart as powerful as this one would have been almost unimaginable.

So, one step at a time, and if you get the odd leap, then retrace your steps to make sure that it is repeatable. Have patience and remember that you are learning a true skill and mastering a powerful money making tool.

Don't think that you have to learn PHP, leave that for later. Use your browser source code to view the output code, this will help you see the structure much more clearly at first.

Also, you will get help here, I guarantee it, but also remember that these guys are volunteers.
So, structure your questions with as much care as possible, avoid vague and ambiguous points and try to provide examples of where you are going wrong (avoid questions like 'my cart won't work, how do i fix it?' - sounds daft, I know, but it happens).

Persevere!

Regards

Dave

Actually, utomo (the OP) did not think Zen Cart was too complicated for him. He was looking for help in changing his friend's view that it is too complicated. The thread title was changed from his original title.

I have to disagree with dml311071. Prior knowledge is helpful, but not mandatory. If you're willing to be patient and learn, you can get the look and functionality you want. No first time user can expect to install Zen Cart and have it look/work like Amazon the same day. That's the mistake many new users make.

Learning anything new requires some patience and concentration.

Don't expect to run before you can walk.