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osCommerce

The e-commerce.

What's a CMS?


cannuck1964

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Posted

Hi all,

 

Over the past, I have heard a lot of talk about CMS. I have worked with Post Nuke's system and liked a lot of the functionality of this. What I am curious about is what others think are the best components of a CMS.

 

For example, I thought the idea of dynamic web pages created as articles was just too cool. As well I like the ease of which new boxes could be made. What I would like to know is what do others think are the better components contained in a good CMS.

 

Over time I could see OSC having it's own form of CMS to offer to stores which might offer on line services, rather then products. The idea of dynamic boxes would be a great addition to OSC, but I believe a change in the structure of the contents would be warrented, for all of the boxes.

 

I would like to see some ideas about different additions to osc, rather then going to an externial system (ie PN Xoop etc...).

 

If people are interested in this idea, I am sure something could be conceptualized and then looked to as a proposal to the development team. I would be very interested in working towards this goal.

 

Anyways any feed back would be most welcome....

 

 

cheers,

Peter McGrath

-----------------------------

See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation

Posted

I'm getting tired of this, so I am glad you have started yet another thread about it.

 

Existing contibutions that create almost a complete nuke/xoops/xaraya/whatever kind of cms system you want:

 

add_link.zip - Links

Articles_Module_v01.zip - News

BB Integrate.zip - phpBB info

cms_v01.zip - news sort of

fd_v_1.tar.gz - FAQ desk

forum_v12.zip - simple forum

infobox.zip - controls for infoboxes

infopages_v0.1b.zip - add pages

latest_news-1.1.0.zip - more news block

nd_v_1.4.zip - News Desk

newsletter_module_v02.zip - subscribe/unsubscribe

OSC_forum_v.02.zip - another simple forum

osc_xml.zip - xml feed

osc-cms.zip - more news handling

osc-rss-20030211.tar.gz - rss feed

pollbooth_v2.0.zip - Polls

zz_FAQ_SYSTEM v.1.0.zip - FAQ system

 

And something fun:

teksigns_quotesys1_01.zip - Quotes block

 

There are several theme systems already established as contributions in addition to at least two others being developed.

 

So someone put it all together and show us what you get and what else you need.

 

I downloaded all the pieces and was already planning to add them to Loaded 5 and another of the template system stores. But if someone else can do it faster and better, I can help test once it's done.

[no external urls in signatures please, kthanks]

Posted

Articles_module and NewsDesk might be something similar.

zzfaq and FaqDesk are similar too. (I didn't like where and how zzfaq installs though).

 

 

Might wanna through in menu tab! sweet little contribution that I came across recently. Something I've been missing from staticpages in geeklog.

 

Why yes, I do agree with Loxly. With a good effort all of those could produce the *nuke of osC for you.

 

 

The biggest draw back is an "automated" page intergration cms contributioin. You drop in a page and add the name in the admin area .... Most cms contributions you have to do a bit of hardcoding ....

 

 

Oh well, one day I'll get to this.

NewsDesk(934) / FAQDesk(1106) / OrderCheck(1168) :::

Posted

How about a port of osCommerce to one of the existing CMS's?

 

I tend to see the store functionality as a support function(*) of a much larger site than the other way around (your mileage may vary...). To be able to install osCommerce as a module in Xaraya, add blocks where I like, change layout using templates (which means stripping all the HTML out of the scripts to leave the bare functionality) would be just fantastic.

 

An existing CMS already has solved many of the problems reinvented here: sessions, user management, permission levels, layout, templates, blocks, themes, security etc.

 

But then, I'm a Xaraya fan too, and would not like to see osCommerce loose focus by trying to be too much more than a store, any more than I would like to see Xaraya gain a store at its core. Feature creep can turn a lean, mean machine into a heavy beast.

 

-- JJ

 

(*) Being a support function is not to belittle the product!

Posted
How about a port of osCommerce to one of the existing CMS's?

 

The more I think about it the more I think this isn't necessary. You can either add contributions to make osc into a CMS or you can use it side by side with your existing CMS.

 

Stylesheets, headers and footers are not hard to customize so that the programs look alike.

 

And for security reasons, I do NOT think the logins/databases should be shared.

 

So go ahead, put osc on the same site as your CMS, use rss to call the osc categories into your cms and use text links to move between the two. And when some one is ready to place an order you need a bit more info than when they were cruising the cms, so you get more info and they get to login a second time, and since a cookie is set from both programs the issue pretty much becomes moot since they don't have to log in again unless they clear cookies. Which the average user doesn't do unless told to.

 

Many sites do this already.

[no external urls in signatures please, kthanks]

Posted

:wink: hehe, xaraya has been shopping around for a cart :wink:

 

Hmmm, I hate to login twice.

 

Sure security will be increased by the factor that a cms's weak point could break your store, however, if somebody hacked osC you're still in the same boat.

 

Keeping people at your site doesn't really hinge on the fact they have to login twice but then again, such a tiny thing like this could be a factor for some.

 

hmmm .... interesting.

NewsDesk(934) / FAQDesk(1106) / OrderCheck(1168) :::

Posted

Yes - single sign-on is fairly important when a site gets sophisticated, especially where there are different user privilege levels and administrators.

 

It does not matter so much if the user has to log in at several points of the site, but being able to use the same username and password across the board is useful. A common underlying user authentication (such as LDAP) would make this possible.

 

As for the other functionality that is built into osCommerce - well, it does fuzzy the edges of the purpose of OSC somewhat. Strip out the newsletters, banners, content, user management etc. and the remaining commerce system would be very lean indeed. That functionality could then be added back in through the CMS. I just think it is an approach that would work very well (as an alternative).

 

The banner management in OSC is good, but it's not the best (check out PHPadsNew). The newsletter is good, but it's not the best (check out PHPlist). The content management is okay, but it's not the best (check out Xaraya or PostNuke). The shopping cart is -- the best. I would dearly love to see the shopping cart by itself as a support function that could be called up from within another application.

 

Anyway, that's is just one approach (i.e. plugging the cart into another CMS as a module). The other approaches are just as valid.

 

-- JJ

Posted
So go ahead, put osc on the same site as your CMS, use rss to call the osc categories into your cms and use text links to move between the two. And when some one is ready to place an order you need a bit more info than when they were cruising the cms, so you get more info and they get to login a second time, and since a cookie is set from both programs the issue pretty much becomes moot since they don't have to log in again unless they clear cookies. Which the average user doesn't do unless told to

 

Yes this is one approach to the problem, but I think that osc has a lot more to offer then just as a store front. My throught is to make osc into a CMS rather then have two different platform technologies working. Having the two different technologies just means additional overhead in performing upgrades.

 

And for security reasons, I do NOT think the logins/databases should be shared.

 

Why would this be an issue? Is your osc unsecure? I am thinking of two different levels of login myself, one for the general site, and then append info onto the account if they wish to purchase from the site. this way a fast account is made up for the general site, and more details only needed when required for purchases, I have set up something along these lines for my mall system.

 

 

Stylesheets, headers and footers are not hard to customize so that the programs look alike.

 

Yes this is true for someone who knows what they are doing.....for the average person, this is not something they want to do. They want to point and click and all done, this is not that hard to achieve with proper planning and designs. I am working towards an end user in mind, one who is not tech savy like some of us.....

 

How about a port of osCommerce to one of the existing CMS's?

 

not really what this thread is about, there are already on going efforts in this area already being discussed else where

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40330

 

 

 

An existing CMS already has solved many of the problems reinvented here: sessions, user management, permission levels, layout, templates, blocks, themes, security etc.

 

Yes this is true, but because there is already one out there, does this mean we should stop thinking of other solutions??

 

Osc has the ability and has overcome many of these issues as well....

 

 

But then, I'm a Xaraya fan too, and would not like to see osCommerce loose focus by trying to be too much more than a store, any more than I would like to see Xaraya gain a store at its core. Feature creep can turn a lean, mean machine into a heavy beast.

 

The core functionality of the store is not going to be compromised in making it more versitile, additional functionality is always welcome by people. the lean machine and heavey beast are dictated by software design, not functionality.....

 

 

I'm getting tired of this, so I am glad you have started yet another thread about it.

 

Well all effort is being placed to meld two systems together, I believe that there is not need to do so...by making osc as a CMS, many people will be much more happy to use just one product verses the two or three they are currently using.....

 

 

I belive that the making of external systems compatable with OSC is a great thing too, due to the volume of users currently doing so, but if another option is available then that can only be seen as a plus....

 

 

I have a dynamic articlew submittion tool made up already, as well as a site text editor system.....you can see it via

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43904

 

And then there is the box issue ....I would like to see something done in this area of developement, to make them more dynamic in nauture, and have a admin function to set them up....similar to PN systems...

 

cheers,

Peter McGrath

-----------------------------

See my Profile (click here) for more information and to contact me for professional osCommerce support that includes SEO development, custom development and security implementation

Posted
:wink: hehe, xaraya has been shopping around for a cart :wink:

 

The core code of OSC is the best shopping cart I have yet found. I reckon it could be ported function-by-function, with all the HTML stripped out into templates. A Xaraya version would not look anything like the original OSC, but it's a great model to follow.

 

User security is important in Xaraya. The week point at the moment would be OSC (I've already found a few places where SQL can potentially be injected into q query - it's all those direct calls to HTTP_GET_VARS that does it. Xaraya functions never have to directly handle calls from a browser - it is all passed through the core, where security checks can be made).

 

Anyway - I'm drifting a bit OT, but it is useful to see how things work elsewhere. The 'invented here' approach never really helped any project become anything more than rambling. Interoperability is the name of the game, so far as I am concerned, as joining OS projects together into bigger applications a fantasic way to build enormous projects that would not have been possible before.

 

-- Jason

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