If someone would please create an Ajaxy, Web 2.0, Ruby On Rails, Lighttpd based commerce-platform-hooha that would be spiffy. In fact I have no doubt that a parade would be conducted in your honor — or honors if there are more than one of you.
I would very much like to have this done posthaste because of all the web application types that are in need of an overhaul, online commerce is way overdue. Everything currently available sucks worse than Wasilla, Alaska.
Yeah, it's that bad.
Oh and make sure it has a racing stripe down the middle, please.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Hehe. I was planning on releasing it tomorrow ;)
I agree. I wish I could stop time for about a year and work on that.
Wouldn't it be cool if Amazon did indeed redo their entire site with ajax and then, as an additional smack because "they're just that good" they added that racing stripe?
I would totally be all over that one... All over it.
Would this parade happen to have juggling clows on unicycles?
I'm with you, it's a struggle to find anything remotely decent. It's all buggy bloat-ware. (Although I'd be just as satisfied with a PHP solution.)
Well, I've got a PHP solution, lol :)
I think they are trying to do that.
http://shopify.com/
The gap is suppose to unveil a new commerce engine soon. So far teh Seattle PI calls it "innovative".
Yes there will be juggling clowns on unicycles and Shriners.
If Shopify came through with the online commerce killer app, they would make a lot of money and I would be quite pleased.
GAP scored a nice little publicity home run when they pulled their store offline. Let's hope the hype is real, it would be refreshing to see an advancement in online retail design.
If I had a blog I would blog it.
Really Shopify has this sort of hype behind it already, let's see a release!
I've been to Wasilla.
Yes.
It's that bad.
Aren't there always juggling clowns on unicycles?
All I want is an ecommerce app with the usability built-in. Something like that is too important to leave to the corporations.
Why oh why must I complete 4/5 steps before you tell me the event is sold out?
Looks like these guys www.allurent.com are trying to innovate somewhat.... But see Flash as the solution.
All I can say is that I wish such a solution had been around when we were building dvdhorror.com I've never had such a complex and difficult build experience. There really is no excuse.
re: allurent.com. Nope, i don't see this model as the winning way. Flash based sites frustrate me as soon as i see the "loading" crap. I immediately hit the back button. I am not against Flash per se, 9eg i like when used as a way to enhance the site) but when it's the whole site, iam outa da there, Shopify looks much more promising, although i know evry little about rails/ruby etc.
Not to knock Tobias and the rest of the gang behind Shopify, but it's a hosted solution. A didn't use Karova even though it's a usable, accessible solution for that reason and I won't use Shopify for the same reason. I'm fine with hosted apps like BackPack for my own use, but I won't sell a client a hosted solution... something just seems integrally wrong with that. Am I alone here? or was the fact that it's hosted simply looked over?
I don't see the appeal of Shopify. For one thing, as Stephen said, it is hosted, which is an instant strike against it. And the site seems to imply that design options will be limited, which kills it for me. I've tried numerous ecommerce apps, all of which are pre-designed, and which consider "customization" to be the ability to change font colors and decide if I want the Related Items box to be on the left or right side. Useless. I need a solution that gives me complete control of every detail of the layout through css, not through some overly complicated web form. Bonus points if it validates. Essentially, I want a MovableType/WordPress/ExpressionEngine level of control with a fully functioning shopping cart.
I'm working on setting up a commerce site for a jewelry shop. The software I chose was CubeCart, which claims to validate xhtml and css out of the box. I didn't check it because I was so excited to find something that was template driven I just started hacking away. This is by far the best code I've seen for allowing customization. The default look/feel still relies on tables, but so what? Just change the template. Easy!
The other thing missing is a good all purpose CMS...
I have started looking outside PHP and moved over to ASP and the .NET framework but it seems to be the same (if not worse) situation. From what I can tell you can upload complete binary packages using .NET so you can't even edit the source if they don't want you to (and most ASP developers suck ass like that, it's all money money money)
sigh :(
I have started looking outside PHP and moved over to ASP and the .NET framework but it seems to be the same (if not worse) situation.
I'm in a .net shop and spend several months looking for CMS options and, yea, I agree. It's just as bad.
We ended up writing our own. The new GAP site (which is hardly innovative) but is being touted for it being done in-house is a nice step IMHO. In the end, if you want it done right...
I volunteer 37signals for the job.
They would do an excellent job.
god no!!!!
The problem I have with 37S is there approach to preferences. They limit what preferences you can set and although that's ok for something as crappy as basecamp you can't do that on a shop or CMS.
And they keep using the "Web 2.0" thing that really grinds my teeth... they make whay, 3 products that a hand full of people use and they start a new cult.
Chris- so if it's that easy why haven't you done it yet? Or maybe you have?
Besides, what can you actually really customize on amazon.com? Sure it gives you custom recommendations and lets you do lots of lists and things but preferences?
I just had a look on my amazon account page:
personal details... payment options, yup yup... e-mail notifications.. this isn't customization out of the ordinary.
How nice to see that you guys are talking about my baby :)
In fact this blog post describes what we set out to do with shopify precisely.
Web standards are just as important to me and the rest of the team as is accessibility and a
beautiful UI.
As for the sentiments towards the hosted solutions: Ask yourself if you really want to host and maintain
an E-Commerce application for your client. E-Commerce is a vastly complex and dangerous topic, leaking credit
cards to the net because of a missed security update on your server is the end of your and your clients company.
At the same time shopify will try its very best to ensure that your customers see nothing of the hosted
nature of the backend. I'll post more about this on the jadedpixel.com weblog as we go along.
Cha-Ching!
I doesn't always have to be Ajax. Paul Graham's yahoo store or Yahoo Merchant Solutions now is really cool. And although it was built a decade ago, it is still the leader and has a lot of potential to grow further.
They recently upgraded their shopping cart and are constantly working on improving the system. The best system that exist and successfully operates now.
Being a simple computer user and not a serious techno-geek, I don't know what the heck you're talking about in this one Greg, but as a layman who has made a few dozen online purchases, shopping online doesn't suck as much as Wasilla.
Not to be all grumpy, but all these services that are "launching soon! OOOOOH you better watch out! We can't give you any details, but man when you see it, it will change the way you browse the web!!1 OMG teh aw3s0m3!" It seems to me that if cha-ching is really that cool they would be doing what shopify is doing (to a certain extent) and blogging about what they are creating, spreading the word. I also point the finger at flock, mint (now released), measure map, etc. Why should I give you my e-mail address if I only know vaguely what your software does.
/rant
SC: Point taken. I would never give out my email address either if I didn't know who's behind it. But if the description of the product is enough to peak your interest, then maybe it's worth it to be notified. So, as part of Cha-Ching!, let me assure you this will be for your own good ;) Put your email address in there and give us a chance.
You will probably notice our first post was last night. Things are brewing on our end so more posts will be up soon.
http://shopify.com/
Haha, it's already on its way.
eh! woops, I didn't read that ot's already been mentioned a bazillion times ont his thread.
The problem is, PEOPLE still have to run it. No matter how whiz bang the software is, the business behind it is only as good as the people running it. Been there, DOING that.
No matter how whiz bang the software is, the business behind it is only as good as the people running it.
That's true. But you can design software to guide the business guys in the right direction. Give 'em enough options to run a successful business, and not enough to be destructive.
And on a sidenote: any of these guys that are working on this kind of software, there doesnt seem to be ANY software for e-retail places that do primarily drop-shipping. Truly neglected niche it seems.
Amen. And no hosted service please. Something I can install on my own thank you very much. :)