# Is Open Source sitebuilding software too hard for Newbie



## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

I worked at a computer software company, but as a software tester using VMS and that was a few years ago. Nothing to do with windows or HTML. So I have no programming skills.

I'm trying to build an ecommerce site and would like to try a open source software. I have a blog and have looked at the HTML code to do VERY minor things, sometimes it's obvious what to do to fix something. But I have never created the HTML, just modified it.

I've done a lot of reading and my page of notes is huge. I've narrowed it down to a few based on stability, ease of use, a support forum and options - this is all coming from what I've read with no personal experience. I've also found that some of these software programs have books for beginners (though the reviews are mixed on them too).

So really, if you are a non-programmer and have used an open source ecommerce software, did you want to pull your hair out? 

These are my top choices so far:
Opencart (my favorite right this minute, but subject to change)
Prestashop
Ubercart

Ones I've ruled out (for now) based on lots of bad reviews, bad websites, require that they host the site (I already have a host I like) or lack of documentation:
Zencart & ZenMagik
2checkout
oscommerce (though my friends that use it love it) 
OFBiz - looks good but for later, too much to learn for now
Net Objects Fusion Essentials
WordPress
Contribute
Ace

On the fence with:
Opentaps
virtumart

Still have to look into:
ECommerce by Drupal
CRE Loaded by chain reaction
Komposer
freewebs

I've also put aside any (for now) that I have to pay for till after I really explore the open source stuff. Those are
XSitePro
CoffeeCup
DreamWeaver
Expression
and others


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Of the free ones, I recommend Kompozer. It's the most like the Microsoft products (FrontPage & Expression Web), which I've grown accustomed to. Dreamweaver is also very popular, but I find it to be convoluted (as I find all Adobe products to be).

You can get used to most any graphic web editor. It's a lot like using a clumsy graphical word processor, similar to Word. But the problem is that you can't get completely away from html code. There always seems to be a need to paste code (as in a page counter application) or tweak the code in some way to make the page work right.

In other words, no matter what software you use there is no escaping the need to understand html source code, at least on a basic level. But you'll pick it up along the way. It's not rocket science.

If you are new to this I suggest that you start with a web template, then just edit the template to your specific needs. A template is a basic web page that was developed with customizing in mind. If you start with a web template a lot of the basic design work and programming has already been done for you. Many web templates are free (Google for them).


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

I have some template sites in my notes and if the basic template for the software I pick is bad, I was planning on using one. I do have a blog counter and had to copy and paste code for that, that was super easy. If that's as hard as it gets, I'm set. But, I know that it's not :-(


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Sparticle said:


> I have some template sites in my notes and if the basic template for the software I pick is bad, I was planning on using one. I do have a blog counter and had to copy and paste code for that, that was super easy. If that's as hard as it gets, I'm set. But, I know that it's not :-(


You want to build a blog site?


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Nevada said:


> You want to build a blog site?


No I have a blog already, two actually. But I"m trying to build an e-commerce site and move everything over to it.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Personally If you want to run a real e-commerce site it better be a commercial software setup and not open source. Unless your internet/computer savy your just asking for problems.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Gary in ohio said:


> Personally If you want to run a real e-commerce site it better be a commercial software setup and not open source. Unless your internet/computer savy your just asking for problems.


I can't really find an affordable one either though. The cheapest is $80 by Coffee cup (Virtual site designer $49 + SHopping cart creator $49 ).

At this point if I could find something good for under $50 I might just do it. It seems like the really good ones are really expensive or open source. The stuff in between seems to be all junk and has horrible ratings. At least with open source you have books, a forum of people and lots of resources.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Gary in ohio said:


> Personally If you want to run a real e-commerce site it better be a commercial software setup and not open source. Unless your internet/computer savy your just asking for problems.


Do you have one you could recommend?


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Sparticle said:


> Do you have one you could recommend?


The part of the e-commerce site that's sensitive is the shopping cart. Since you're just starting out why not use the free PayPal shopping cart. It's free, and it's not open source. Moreover, using your PayPal account as your merchant account lets you accept credit card payments with no monthly fee.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Sparticle said:


> I can't really find an affordable one either though. The cheapest is $80 by Coffee cup (Virtual site designer $49 + SHopping cart creator $49 ).


Can you afford to loose your entire months sales due to a hacker getting into your account?

as for one to use, you might check into the paypal check out system.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Yes I plan on using paypal. But I needed software to build a site. I ended up going with Kompozer but I really want to try Open Cart one day since it's based on tables. I need more experience though. Gonna see if I can get through this one I picked. So far so good.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Sparticle said:


> Yes I plan on using paypal. But I needed software to build a site. I ended up going with Kompozer but I really want to try Open Cart one day since it's based on tables. I need more experience though. Gonna see if I can get through this one I picked. So far so good.


Give PayPal's shopping cart a try. You can create individual product links that you can insert into any web page. It's pretty simple. The online tool creates the link code, then you just paste the code into the page.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

Nevada said:


> Give PayPal's shopping cart a try. You can create individual product links that you can insert into any web page. It's pretty simple. The online tool creates the link code, then you just paste the code into the page.


Ahh, so you create the whole cart in paypal>? I thought you just inserted a payment option to the site. More reading to do obviously.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Sparticle said:


> Ahh, so you create the whole cart in paypal>? I thought you just inserted a payment option to the site. More reading to do obviously.


I haven't done it for awhile, but it used to be that you could do either. I never really liked their whole page approach because it lacked the flexibility to maintain a consistent page theme. That's why I used individual sales links that I embedded into the pages I created.


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