Hi all,

Not really related to the module as such but more to Magento...(so marked as minor)

I've done a few Ubercart sites, but I like the way Magento looks and feels on their demo sites. I'd like to start playing around Magento, but there are a few things stopping me:

- The enterprise and pro versions are for big budgets - but can i still do quite a bit with the community version?

- What are the real advantages of using the Magento cart? As far as I can see the main advantages are an advanced back end and a smooth shopping cart experience. Does it integrate easily with payment providers?

- If my site sellers are users, can they add Magento products easily via the usual Drupal 'add content' method (eg is a new product content type defined?)

- How far can I go with the integration? EG would 'user points' work for an ebay style feedback system on the users, giving them discounts on certasin products? Or, can I use 'Flag' to flag a Magneto product?

I guess Im thinking that having 2 systems running adds complexity and takes away from functionality, but I can see the attraction of using it, as it seems to be a very well built platform and more pro than Ubercart. Having said that maybe it's mainly the theming that makes me think this? And Ubercart certainly seems feature rich when doing things like feedback systems and discounts.

Maybe I should put my energies into learning to theme Ubercart better rather than learn a new system?

Many thanks for any replies,

Joe

Comments

jdln’s picture

jdln commented

Im also wondering the same thing. Ubercart doesn't natively support discounts so you have to use a module for this, and then its a headache to get discounts to appear in the cart block and product pages.

Ive also struggled to theme products in a product kit when on the product kit page. It seems Ubercart doest present a lot of information in a way that views, panels, display suite, etc can use.

Ubercart requires javascript to choose shipping methods, etc when on the checkout page. Without javascript you cannot complete the order. I dont have a huge amount of experience but ive always been told that sites should be able to run without javascript, and i dont see a good reason for ubercarts dependancy.

Im currently looking at Magneto as it seems to have the most hype at the moment.

joecanti’s picture

joecanti commented

I never got anywhere looking into this as the project was ended prematurely. Since then Ive done a few things with ubercart and been happy with it - using panels means that the products can be themed well and you can get a basic store up and running. But, I've only needed it on small projects where ecommerce was not the focus. I probably would think differently if that had been the case.

Magneto seems like a better solution for the non-coder, but you have to pay for it - at least for a decent version.

There are some surprisingly good things that Ubercart can do however, especially with some of the extra modules. The recent Cargoh site makes excellent use of Ubercart.

The javascript thing surprises me, and it may be worth checking over on the Ubercart forum for a way round this, which there must be.

Also, there is a new commerce suite out for D7 - i imagine this is more intertwined with CCK/Views etc so it may be worth keeping an eye on.

Joe

jdln’s picture

jdln commented

Hi Joe
I think Ubercart is being renamed to Commerce for D7. I read something about 'strict integration' so hopefully will work better with Views, etc.

You cant complete the checkout at the cargoh site without javascript. Even though all you have to do is click 'calculate shipping cost', their aren't even multiple options to choose from!

What do you need to pay for with Magneto apart from support?

Maxime Topolov’s picture

Maxime Topolov commented

I've tested Commerce for D7, from first impressions, it remains a big mess. BO interfaces are still designed by developers and for developers, while Magento ones are done for users. Can't wait to release V2 of our integration where so many improvements will be introduced.

vikingew’s picture

vikingew commented

@mtopolov any approx eta for that V2 intergration and will it support Magento 1.4.1.1?

cyxair’s picture

cyxair commented

+1 : any idea when V2 will be out ? current version of magento module is not functional (or maybe needs a lot of code tweaks to work...)

mannejkumar’s picture

mannejkumar commented

any news for latest version?

Maxime Topolov’s picture

Maxime Topolov commented

Sure sure, we'll provide dev branch of V2 in few weeks. Everything is finished, but we need to get it out of a client project and clean up !

vikingew’s picture

vikingew commented

Fair enough, but can you at least disclose such basic stuff as which versions of Magento and Drupal it will involve?

Andrew Gusarov’s picture

Andrew Gusarov commented
Version: 6.x-1.4 » 6.x-2.x-dev
Status: Active » Closed (fixed)

V2 is available

916Designs’s picture

916Designs commented

If anyone is considering migrating to Magento, there's a write up about it here... running on Drupal of course.

http://www.websitemaintenancelabs.com/dev-blog/migrating-drupal-and-ubercart-magento

joecanti’s picture

joecanti commented

I read that Magneto is good for easy/medium level applications, but the learning curve rockets for advanced stuff. Plus it costs.

For my latest project I'm using Commerce and Drupal 7 - so far very happy with it and I especially like the tight views integration. The basket/checkout are built on Views, so it's really easy to customise if you have a good background in drupal.

That's just first impressions though, I'll see how it progresses throuhout the project.

Joe

maxplus’s picture

maxplus commented

Hi,

I am also looking for the best choice (Magento/Ubercart) incombination of Drupal.
Because Commerce is still in early development, I wasn't even looking at it anymore.

Is your Commerce online somewhere so I can check it out?

Thanks

joecanti’s picture

joecanti commented

Hi,

I've actually gone back to Ubercart now - there were a couple of things I didnt like in Commerce - one was the product displays system - you first create a product, then a product display to display it - which seemed a bit long winded to me - The second was that I prefer the Ubercart way of handling options and attributes.

Now I know the commerce developers have put alot of time into thinking these functions out, so I'm sure it makes logical sense to do things in this way. But I just couldnt get my head around it.

I'm sure these will be ironed out in the future, and the rest of it looks solid, but for now I'm back to ubercart for this particular project.

Cheers, Joe