Book Image

Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition

By : David Mercer
Book Image

Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition

By: David Mercer

Overview of this book

<p>The book can be read from front to back, but each chapter is self contained so the reader can skip chapters to read those that they are interested in. Each chapter will move from basic to advanced where applicable and also relate what the administrator (reader) is doing to how this affects what the client sees on the site.</p> <p>So, for example, the customization chapter will start off with a discussion on the concept of design and how to relate this to your business. Once the reader has a clear idea of what they need to do, we look at some really simple changes such as modifying the site's language, before moving to some advanced modifications which may involve some PHP programming. At the same time the discussion will demonstrate how the changes made affect the site.</p> <p>Throughout the book, much consideration is given to the "right" way to doing things. Readers will have the great advantage that they begin, from the very start, doing things properly. This will save them a lot of time and effort in the years to come as they build on and modify their site. Utilizing best practices and sound methodologies is a great asset for beginners and experienced users alike.</p> <p>At all times, the coverage given in this book pays homage to the fact that, ultimately, the reader has a business goal in mind. To this end, the material never gets bogged down in technical issues or long discourses, but rather focuses on what is practically important for the online business and then moves on. To complement this, there are plenty of suggestions and hints as to how and where to look for further information.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Foreword
Introduction
Index

The RSS Technology Feed


We will look briefly at what RSS actually is in a moment, but before we do, it's important to answer a fundamental question first. What value is this project going to bring to my business? To answer that in the case of RSS, we can simply say that by providing information that is relevant and useful to the store's target audience, we hope to attract and hold on to a larger share of customers. There are RSS feeds available today to cater to just about any need you can imagine. All you have to do is think about what type of information would be of some interest or value to your customers, and then go and find a web feed that provides that sort of information.

For example, in the case of the demo site, it is entirely possible that programmers (who are visiting the site to purchase technology books) might wish to see a page of technology-related jobs that is regularly updated and can be browsed on the store's site. If this turns out to be a popular choice, then you will...