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pitkin2020

ohblimey wrote: »

Hello pitkin2020

I think it may have been me upset OP...oops, I thought people would be glad to glean extra bits of info on a topic they clearly want to learn more about

However now OP has another thread I'll hijak this one

I had a quick look at opencart today and I see how it could work very well and achieve a good site for little outlay. We have an actinic catalog site, it's been brilliant for us, although a steep learning curve when we set it up five years ago, and a few hundred pounds upfront cost, but no monthly fee. We did alter some script and changed just about everything, mainly because we wanted a very simple no fuss site. I did use the actinic community forum loads of times at first but haven't needed it for a couple of years now. However we now want to build three or four basic websites in addition to our main site, just to give some of our own brands more presence when people search. I will check out opencart more thoroughly

Basically thanks for the nudge in the right direction

LOL, many come here for advice and when its not what they want to hear they go off in a huff, whether it was you or me that upset the OP i won't lose any sleep over it.

On the subject, actinic is very good software but like you say there is the initial outlay (like any software). It was recommended to me by a few people who do a lot in that area of web design. Its certainly an out of the box product that does work. It will have pretty much everything that most people will also need, so whilst I say it can be restrictive in the main most people won't really run into those restrictions.

Opencart was my preferential choice of opens source cart software. I tried zen cart and I tried eCommerce. To be honest though both of those I found looked very dated in the front end when compared with open cart. The back end wasn't much better, zen cart was ok and you get to most functions by just using your own guidance but eCommerce I think you need to be a programmer lol.

No doubt something in time will come along to rival opencart, whether it be newer versions of zencart or eCommerce. Based purely on the front end appearance, the back end usability and the overall set up opencart won hands down for me. You may its not the same for you.

I would suggest if you can to install them all and have a play, it would also be a good idea to decide before hand what exact features it must have, what features you would like and what features you could live with out as you may find just though 3 questions make the decision for you.

best of luck

kernewek

I would recommend Prestashop.
Open source and easy to set up and use. Lots of add ons available, some cheaper than others though, it must be pointed out.
Support is excellent and you can usually find answers to pretty much anything in their forums.

pitkin2020

kernewek wrote: »

I would recommend Prestashop.
Open source and easy to set up and use. Lots of add ons available, some cheaper than others though, it must be pointed out.
Support is excellent and you can usually find answers to pretty much anything in their forums.

I did have a brief look at prestashop and thought it looked ok the only downside I saw with it was pretty much and sort of add was an additional expense. There were plenty of free ones on opencart that had the same functionality but no costs.

Swings and roundabouts though TBH.

kernewek

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I did have a brief look at prestashop and thought it looked ok the only downside I saw with it was pretty much and sort of add was an additional expense. There were plenty of free ones on opencart that had the same functionality but no costs.

Swings and roundabouts though TBH.

If you really look around you can quite often find add ons in the forums and on other websites that are free. I agree though some of the add ons on the prestashop website can be very steep.