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Zen and the art of website construction
By Wolfie | January 30, 2008
You’ll have noticed that there haven’t been many posts recently - this despite me signing up to the Blog365 Challenge - and those that there have been have been moaning about software.
Well, the reason for less posts is that I’m still trying to get a handle on Zen Cart, the shopping cart / database software that we’re currently using to create a new e-commerce website. I’ve already written about the various annoyances that I’ve discovered with it, and I’ve spent quite a large part of this week trying to solve other problems with it.
This is from the Zen Cart website, and was part of the original decision-making process that included it in the shortlist:
Zen Cartâ„¢ truly is the art of e-commerce; a free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart system. The software is being developed by group of like-minded shop owners, programmers, designers, and consultants that think e-commerce could be and should be done differently.
Some “solutions” seem to be complicated programming exercises instead of responding to users’ needs, Zen Cartâ„¢ puts the merchants and shoppers requirements first. Similarly, other programs are nearly impossible to install and use without an IT degree, Zen Cartâ„¢ can be installed and set-up by anyone with the most basic web site building and computer skills.
I’d take issue with some of that; while Zen is indeed free - you don’t even have to pay to set up payment providers, which you do have to with some other free shopping carts - but there’s no way it’s user-friendly, nor can it be installed and set-up by anyone with basic skills. I’m no programming or web-design genius but I do know my way about - and I’ve been struggling all week to do the simplest things.
For instance, date formats. Zen is a US-centric application, so naturally the date format is wrong: Month, Day, Year instead of the correct Day, Month, Year. Now, I can change from US dollar to UK pound with a couple of clicks of a mouse, but to change the date format I have to go delving into php files and changing code. After I’ve spent ages trying to find out from various FAQ’s, forums and wikis which code I need to change.
Adding postage methods takes yet more coding; as does changing the default weight label from pounds to grams. Why are these basic things so hard to achieve? If I hadn’t had to spend so long sorting out things like this, then I could probably have finished the site by now. And it would seem that it’s not just me - the Zen Cart forums are full of people asking how to do what should be relatively simple things, and getting answers that involve making code changes rather than just clicking an option or two.
Zen Cart is, from a functionality point of view, a good system - especially when you add in that it’s free - but the developers do seem to have missed a trick with the useability level. If you’re looking for a shopping cart system, be aware that it does not live up to its publicity on that score.
Categories: Internet, Technology |
Tags: Shopping Cart, Software, Zen Cart
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:: timethief had this to say:
My theory is that the more geeky the open source creators are the less they relate to the end users and their interface requirements. Why they do not get their non-geeky friends to ‘torture test’ these products and listen to the feedback from the testers before the software is released is beyond me.
12:46 am :: February 3rd, 2008