CafeCommerce First Impressions

So far, I've only signed up and looked around a bit but wanted to post my initial impressions before forgetting what they are!

The homepage is very easy to gasp andmthe sign up process is also easy. I like the fact that I just had to enter my subdomain, email and password to sign up, then it goes directly to the log in screen and retains the sign up info, except for the password of course. So getting started takes less then a minute, very nice.

I'm not a security expert, but it does seem thentrend is to do away with all sorts of validation, email confirmation and the like just to create an account.

I also like the tool tip form validation on the sign up form. I use WA Validation toolkit, and the downside therenwith server side validation is needing to save space onnthe page for error messages. I wold like to see an extension offering the tooltip method?

I didn't set up my store yet, but the start page looks like it's going to be easy - no guessingnwhere to start or what to do next. The buttons make it very clear how to proceed.

I did look at the first set up page. Here the tool tp that dispolyed when I Moises over the store namenfield behaved eratically. It showed up both to the left and right of the text field (not at the same time of course). Sometimes it would contain one long single line of text, other times it would wrap. It also extended beyond the browser window on both sides window was sized smaller. I'm using the latest version of Safari and Windows 7.

I do have some questions about the site itself. At first I thought it was supposed to be another packaged solution, or extensions but it's a completely separate entity from the WA developer product line. For the intended audience of this site, how would you describe it in relation to the competition, the main one that comes to mind is Cafe Press.

I want to be involved as much as possible in the beta set, the only problem is, I don't have anything to sell! Can I just enter phantom products for testing purposes? Are there or will there be stock products that. Can be branded or customized? And finally, does it support digital products such as music downloads, photography, video loops and backgrounds, or website templates?

Should we have a topic for people to post links to their stores? I would like to see what others are doing with the site. Is there a way to browse existing stores or thrift search?

I imagine a lot of these questions are already answered by exploring more, But these are things that came to mind in the context of m initial impression, and maybe some of these questions will be addressed in the overview video when is completed.

Originally Said By: Lon Winters

  I do have some questions about the site itself. At first I thought it was supposed to be another packaged solution, or extensions but it's a completely separate entity from the WA developer product line. For the intended audience of this site, how would you describe it in relation to the competition, the main one that comes to mind is Cafe Press.

I want to be involved as much as possible in the beta set, the only problem is, I don't have anything to sell! Can I just enter phantom products for testing purposes? Are there or will there be stock products that. Can be branded or customized? And finally, does it support digital products such as music downloads, photography, video loops and backgrounds, or website templates?

Should we have a topic for people to post links to their stores? I would like to see what others are doing with the site. Is there a way to browse existing stores or thrift search?

I imagine a lot of these questions are already answered by exploring more, But these are things that came to mind in the context of m initial impression, and maybe some of these questions will be addressed in the overview video when is completed.  

I figured I would chime in here. I haven't used another online e-commerce such as Cafe Press but have used a software from another company and this beats them HANDS DOWN as for all the features and ease of use. So as for comparing this to other online e-commerce solutions I can't answer that but hopefully someone else can.

As for making a "phantom store" you sure can since that is exactly what I have done. As Cafe Commerce recommends you clear out the "stock products" that are there when you start to give you a fresh start. Trust me I started just altering the "stock inventory" that was added then decided it was way easier to delete and start over as they recommend. The images that I have used are ones that I personally took of "fake products" so I could get the "feel" of the site with images.

Also as for Cafe Commerce supporting downloadable products such as MP3, images, e-books and other digital files such as website templates. The files can only be 100MB max but that can handle most digital files unless you are trying to sell monster files but if you can zip the file down below 100MB you should be fine.

As for seeing the other peoples stores I don't think it is possible unless they sign up to activate their store.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

Have a good weekend.

Kevin

Very helpful Kevin, thank you.

100 MB for downloads is plenty I think, even most hi rez stock photography doesn't exceed that size.

Are you able to test the purchasing transaction portion using fake products and with the store in test mode? That would be the only other thing remaining to fully test everything. They way I've seen it done before is just set the price of some of the products at a penny and run an actual purchase.

Originally Said By: Lon Winters

  Very helpful Kevin, thank you.

100 MB for downloads is plenty I think, even most hi rez stock photography doesn't exceed that size.

Are you able to test the purchasing transaction portion using fake products and with the store in test mode? That would be the only other thing remaining to fully test everything. They way I've seen it done before is just set the price of some of the products at a penny and run an actual purchase.  

Hello Lon,

Yes 100MB would be plenty for stock photography.

I have tested the purchase transaction in beta and it works perfectly. You will receive an email telling you that there was a purchase on the site and your customer will receive a receipt just like all other e-commerce sites like Wal-mart or Amazon. Right now since I am running in beta it allows the transaction to take place without actually making a true transaction using a payment gateway. The other nice thing about My Cafe Commerce also is that it allows for inventory control which is something most e-commerce sites need.

Hope that helps and if you have any other questions just ask and hopefully I can help.

Kevin

Hey Lon,

Thanks for all the great feedback! You've asked a lot of good questions, and Kevin has been kind enough to address most of them. I'll try and fill in the gaps as best as i can.

  I did look at the first set up page. Here the tool tp that dispolyed when I Moises over the store namenfield behaved eratically. It showed up both to the left and right of the text field (not at the same time of course). Sometimes it would contain one long single line of text, other times it would wrap. It also extended beyond the browser window on both sides window was sized smaller. I'm using the latest version of Safari and Windows 7.  

We're looking into this now and will post back if we need more details from you.

  For the intended audience of this site, how would you describe it in relation to the competition, the main one that comes to mind is Cafe Press.  

There's no shortage of hosted online store systems out there and eCommerce is an industry that WebAssist has typically only entered through developer products. With CafeCommerce we are trying to provide a solution that will work for as many small to medium-sized business that wants to sell online. Where CafeCommerce really differs with it's competition will be with pricing. Most of these solutions have tiered pricing plans where you pay up to $1000 to get all the features. With CafeCommerce, we have one low monthly fee to get all the features.

  I want to be involved as much as possible in the beta set, the only problem is, I don't have anything to sell! Can I just enter phantom products for testing purposes? Are there or will there be stock products that. Can be branded or customized?  

You can add whatever fake products you'd like or use the demo products to test transactions.

  And finally, does it support digital products such as music downloads, photography, video loops and backgrounds, or website templates?  

Absolutely! On the product insert page, there is a checkbox for you to specify if it is a digital good. When selected, you will have the opportunity to specify the file that will be purchased.

  Are you able to test the purchasing transaction portion using fake products and with the store in test mode? That would be the only other thing remaining to fully test everything. They way I've seen it done before is just set the price of some of the products at a penny and run an actual purchase.  

If you leave Test Mode enabled, you can perform as many test purchases as you would like, and it won't send any info to the payment gateway. This allows you to really test the process from beginning to end without having to worry about refunds.


-Neil

Originally Said By: Lon Winters

  I did look at the first set up page. Here the tool tp that dispolyed when I Moises over the store namenfield behaved eratically. It showed up both to the left and right of the text field (not at the same time of course). Sometimes it would contain one long single line of text, other times it would wrap. It also extended beyond the browser window on both sides window was sized smaller. I'm using the latest version of Safari and Windows 7.  

Lon, We're having trouble reproducing this. Can you screenshot for me?

Hi all,

First of all my compliments about your new Cafe. I've been there already and ordered a cup of coffie.
While I was enjoying the fresh coffie I was also looking around to catch every detail. I must say that you guys did a very good job so far.
As a one of the first customer of this nice Cafe I grab the opportunity to express my thoughts if you don't mind.

What I liked is:

1-) Smooth design of the backend. Starting with the nice and clear icons/buttons on the dasboard till the pro-looks massage boxes.
2- ) The ability of the drag and drop interface. Running together with the current web standards.
3-) Very usefull add on is the creataing/adding extra pages! It closes another gap between Power Store and CMS.
4-) Expert SEO options.

... to be continued.

What I want to ask is:

1-) I can not edit the page content. Is this disabled in beta?
2-) I noticed a lot of JS errors at the bottom of IE while I was surfing around at the backend. Most of the time related to the mootools etc. Is Cafe Commerce IE compatible?
3-) Are you gyst planning to add more "widgets" like sliding banner, newsletter sign up form etc?

... to be continued.


So I'll definetely come back to your place and order some more coffie. Till next time.

Hey Magic,

Thanks for being a part of the beta, your feedback is really important to us, so keep it coming!

I've answered your questions inline...

  1-) I can not edit the page content. Is this disabled in beta?  

You can modify the content for any of the front-end pages by following these steps:
- From the Admin, choose Pages & Navigation
- Select the page to modify and select the Modify Content button.

This opens the live version of that page in a new window, and since you are logged in as an administrator, you will see "Edit" icons that will allow you to edit that content.

The Edit icons will display whenever you view the live site while logged in as an administrator.

  2-) I noticed a lot of JS errors at the bottom of IE while I was surfing around at the backend. Most of the time related to the mootools etc. Is Cafe Commerce IE compatible?  

CafeCommerce is intended to be compatible in all modern browsers. If you can provide more information on where the errors display and the error message, we will take a look at resolving the issue.

  3-) Are you gyst planning to add more "widgets" like sliding banner, newsletter sign up form etc?  

Absolutely. We intend to update CafeCommerce quite regularly and you will see more features added from time to time.

Hi Neil,

1-) I still can not edit the content of any page.
When I click on the Modify Content I get redirected to the front end with editable regions incl. Edit buttons. If I click on one of these I just get a pop up says:

"Update your content

Update your content and see it reflected immediately on the page once you save. Pretty neat huh?"

That's all.

I tested this with IE and G-Chrome.

2-) Another problem is editing products. Very first time that edit product page loads only I can see are the tab headers like Details, Desc. etc. The page loads 100% if I click on the tabs and allow me to make modifications.
Bottom of The IE I see the following erros:

Message: Can not move focus to the control because the element is not visible, not enabled or a type that does not accept focus.
Line: 75
Char: 4
Code: 0
URI: https:/ / magicstore.mycafecommerce.com / admin / js / store / products_form.js

Message: This property or method is not supported by this object
Line: 472
Character: 25
Code: 0
URI: https: / / ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/mootools/1.3.1/mootools-yui-compressed.js


Message: Syntax error
Line: 1
Char: 1
Code: 0
URI: https: / / magicstore.mycafecommerce.com / WebAssist / ckeditor / lang / nl.js? t = ABLC4TW


Message: "lang.contextmenu.options' is null or not an object
Line: 47
Draw: 1845
Code: 0
URI: https: / / magicstore.mycafecommerce.com / WebAssist / ckeditor / ckeditor.js? t = ABLC4TW

Greetings, Magic. Thank you for the feedback.

We have replicated the add/edit products issue and we're looking into getting it addressed.

We are not, however, able to replicate the issue you're having with editing content.

I have sent you an email to request more information. Please reply at your convenience.