CrazyWebFoo Design Blog » Software Reviews

ZenCart: eCommerce Solution (Part 2 of 5)

Steve Waugh — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:25:03 +0000

Once you’ve initially setup your Zen Cart installation you need to start thinking about the products you plan to sell on your website. You need to have a relationship with one or more vendors whose products you will feature and sell. You can even be your own vendor and sell unique products that you’ve designed yourself. Part 2 of this series focuses on setting up Zen Cart for product data import scripts.

I began the data import phase by searching for a Zen Cart import module. My search led me to Easy Populate, a non-commercial module to manage “CSV” data imports. This was a great discovery as the software saved me dozens of programming hours that would have been required to write and debug a custom made script. You will still need to write a script for each vendor in order to format the file exactly to the right specs. Again, this is still much simpler than connecting to multiple SQL tables with a custom script if you don’t already have something like this in your code toolbox.

So, for each vendor I create a custom PHP script to get the product and image data ready for import. The idea behind this is so that the website owners can later go in and perform these inventory updates on their own if they choose to to that route. Ultimately I plan to integrate the data import scripts seamlessly with the eCommerce site. In the end the owners or site administrators will simply need to browse to and upload the correct file and then click on the “Import” button.

Keep in mind that most vendors include product images separate from the actual product inventory. Vendors typically use the product or SKU as the name for each image. I had to request an image CD as well as FTP access in order to get all of the necessary information from each vendor. Then, I created vendor folder under the root images folder, and pointed to the correct image file location during the import.

Data imports do not require advanced knowledge or skills, however, I would not recommend this step to a casual user. You will need a firm understanding on database programming fundamentals. Also, you should be comfortable with the programming language constructs required to assemble a script file. This is a good area to spend money on professional help to ensure that the presentation of your eCommerce site products look good in your customers’ eyes.

I began the data import phase by searching for a Zen Cart import module. My search led me to Easy Populate, a non-commercial module to manage “CSV” data imports.

Software Review: Seesmic Desktop

Steve Waugh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:57:12 +0000

In the world of web design I use a variety of software applications to get things done. One of my new favorites is a product called Seesmic Desktop. If you manage multiple Twitter accounts you will love this app. I’ve been almost exclusively using this brilliant interface for the last 90 days to manage my Facebook (stevewaugh76, CrazyWebFoo Facebook Fan Page, Fly R/C Online Fan Page) and Twitter (@crazywebfoo, @flyrconline, and @stevewaugh76) accounts.

Highlights

A super slick and clean user interface
Manage multiple networking and marketing streams
Interact on all of your social media channels simultaneously

Here’s what the guys over at Seesmic have to say:

Build your community in one central place with Seesmic Desktop, which integrates both Twitter and Facebook. This all-in-one tool makes it easy to reply to your friends and share text, links, photos and videos all in one screen.

Key Features

Manage multiple accounts, Facebook and Facebook Pages
Create Saved Searches
Access to Twitter Lists

As if all of that social juice wasn’t enough to entice and lure you in, the $0 price tag should be the final nail in your procrastination coffin, so to speak. Do yourself a favor and get Seesmic Desktop. It’s one of the best in class for providing a viable social media manager to the masses.

Mobile Productivity: Vlingo

Steve Waugh — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:19:49 +0000

By now most of you should be able to gather that I like my tools. Offline, I enjoy collecting pocket knives. Each one of these knives serves a unique purpose in my collection. I’ve got business casual, hobby related, and my personal favorite: my black one-handed blade movement. 9 times out of 10 that’s the one knife I’ll have in my pocket. And over in my other pocket? My favorite electronic tool; my iPhone. Just like my knife collection, I have a staggering library of apps that I use and test daily, and one of the gems is Vlingo.

Here’s what their website has to say:

At Vlingo we unlock access to wireless data services. As the inventor of the mobile phone “voice user interface,” Vlingo delivers a voice interface and technology that allows users to instantly access services and content on their device. These services include the ability send text and email messages, call contacts, search the Web, update your Facebook or Twitter status and much more by just speaking into their phone.

Vlingo is available for most current BlackBerry smartphones, Apple’s iPhone, Nokia S60 phones and select Windows Mobile phones.

I’ve used this app daily for the last 60 days. It comes in two flavors: free and paid version. Here’s the commands you say and the things you can do with each version:

Free Version
Maps (ex: “Find coffee shops in Cambridge”)
Social Update (ex: “Facebook update needs coffee right now”)
Web Search (ex: “Search Bonobo apes”)
Voice Dial (ex: “Call Charlie mobile”)

Paid Version
Email (ex: “Email Han, subject Tonight, message Running a bit late!”)
SMS Paste (ex: “Text Kaite, message are you free tonight for dinner?”)

So far I’ve only explored the free feautres of this app. It’s solid, works very well, and understands 90% of my commands the first time through! It has adaptive voice technology, so the more you use it, the better it understands your vocal commands. If you’re connected, on the go, and want a great ally as a communications tool, look no further than Vlingo.

OpenOffice.org – The Free and Open Productivity Suite

Steve Waugh — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:45:20 +0000

CrazyWebFoo Design is an open source propenent all the way. Whenever the opportunity comes along to discuss various software applications or even content management systems, we always give strong consideration to the top open source contenders in each category. It’s on the rarest of occasions that we come down off of our design pedestal to discuss software. Consider this post one of those occasions.

Let me start by saying that, having been a Microsoft drone for the better part of 15 years, I wasn’t exactly looking for change. I was content. This was a long-term relationship that idled along without consternation. However, since I embarked on the freelance path just over a year ago, I’ve come to rely more heavily on the value and generosity of the open source community. During my career I’ve used thousands of open source apps and a few operating systems. Even today I continue to seek out new tools, tips, and trends that help me efficiently manage the tasks at hand.

OpenOffice.org – The Free and Open Productivity Suite is a special kind of tool.

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. [source: Why OpenOffice.org (http://why.openoffice.org/)]

What You Get

Writer (think Microsoft Word)
Calc (think Excel)
Impress (presentations)
Draw (Paint but better)
Base (Access database style)

Here’s what I can tell you from my perspective. I use at least one of these tools everday. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. This cost is $0. The software is world-class. You would be making a wise investment, grasshopper. Want to know my favorite part? I can initiate most essential tasks from one, tidy icon in the system tray. Job well done guys!

Links of Interest

learn more – http://why.openoffice.org/
download – http://download.openoffice.org/index.html
need help – http://support.openoffice.org/
extensions – http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/