Four Good WordPress E-Commerce Plugins

Hello from Allan at MindVisionMedia.net again, I hope this post finds you all well.

I get a lot of inquiries about which plugin or program to use for WP e-commerce. 
I have used several myself and installed and set up several for clients as well and there are 4 that really stick out for user friendliness and cost to get started. 

I would consider all of these to range from simple to moderate in technical detail and ability. Almost anybody can set one of these up in no time depending on how many products you have and the specifics you need for each.

Be sure to check with your hosting company to make sure they have enough WP support to run your e-commerce option. These are all free and offer other features, options and add-ons that you can purchase to enhance your online store and the control features you have.

The first is Ecwid, this free plugin offers a handy e-commerce widget that is easy to implement on any page or post through the use of a shortcode. 

The set up at Ecwid.com is friendly and easy as well providing more options than one would expect from a free service. Once you have your products created and all of the settings configured, it is just a matter of dragging the Ecwid e-commerce Plugin widget into the sidebar of your choice or add the store to a page of your choice using the provided "shortcodes".

The free plan includes all standard e-commerce features, and paid plans start at $15 per month and grant you more advanced features such as discount settings and inventory control. Check it out and see if it's the right e-commerce solution for your WordPress site or Blog.

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Next we have Shopify, get your online retail plan going with this stylish and versatile e-commerce solution. What I like about this one is the ability to customize the look and feel pretty much however you want. 

I have worked on and seen some pretty nice "looking" online stores using this one.

They offer over 100 templates and even have an iPad Point-of-Sale feature that syncs all of your online and brick and mortar products, inventory, orders etc making it easier for business owners to manage their business.

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Probably one of the most known free e-commerce plugins for WordPress  is WooCommerce. This is another option for your online store that offers great themes ($) to help you customize the look and feel of your business.
You get all the basic features including order management, shipping and tax adjustments, customer account area, sales reports, inventory management options, coupon options and a whole lot more. If you are looking for a plugin that is popular, this is it. 

A quick note to consider though is that not all hosting companies offer full WordPress support which can impact whether or not you can run WooCommerce on your server. Check with your hosting company to see if they support WooCommerce before you get all exited, I have had personal experience getting one all setup and the hosting company couldn't run it properly.

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The last one is WP e-Commerce. A bit of a trend setter, this e-commerce option was one of the few solutions for WordPress years ago before a lot of the others were developed. 

Of course this one has everything you need as do most, control over inventory, shipping, discounts, orders, multiple language and currency options, Google Checkout and a lot more, free.

You can buy other features and add-ons to enhance the product but you can definitely get started and go a long way with the free version. These guys were around before all of the options available today so they have had the advantage of finding out what works and what features to provide for those who choose to use this e-commerce option, tried and tested.

So if you are trying to configure an online store or shopping cart, set up an e-commerce site, sell stuff on your blog etc, these 4 WordPress e-commerce options provide enough versatility and comparison to help you make a good decision for your needs. Again just a reminder to check with your hosting company to make sure your choice will work on your current server configuration. Enjoy and happy selling!


by
Allan Whitney
Owner/Administrator
MindVisionMedia.net

WordPress Responsive Theme Child Theme Update v1.9.5.1 2014 | MindVisionMedia.net

WordPress Responsive Theme Child Theme Update v1.9.5.1 2014. The long awaited and much needed child theme update tutorial that will help fix your broken parent or child theme. 

Hello folks, #allanmvm here to resolve the current confusion surrounding child themes and the latest versions of this popular WordPress Theme.

Over the last several weeks I have recieved a huge influx of inquiries regarding broken parent and child themes from people all over the world. Typically, theme developers only make changes that cover security vulnerabilities and bug fixes to a theme. Rarely do they change core file names and locations which can reak havoc on current users.

In recent updates however, CyberChimps has done both. In the last few months I've seen an increased update pattern from CyberChimps as they attempt to finalize core features and improvements to one of the most popular themes available. The problem started when changes to these core file names and locations were part of the updates.

This caused and is still causing a little confusion and frustration for some over which file to edit. Over the span of this past summer (2013) when the home php file was changed to front-page php (this file deals with the main Content area, CTA button and the Featured content areas of the home page), I saw an increase of support requests for help figuring out where to edit these sections in the theme editor and or explanations on how to move that file to the child theme directory to make edits.

Now with the latest updates, the actual location of the main style css file has changed. Many users have discovered that the @url reference link in their child theme css could no longer find the new location of the parent themes style css.

A quick fix for existing child theme users is to edit the path from, .../responsive/style.css to the new path in the @url reference.

In my latest UPDATED Responsive Theme Child Theme Tutorial for 2014, I reveal the new location (path) of the "parent" style css file and how to set up and use a child theme with the new Responsive Theme updates.

I show how to download and install the child theme template available from CyberChimps, activate it and set it up so you can edit your child theme successfully along with showing how to move or transfer copies of other files to the child theme directory in order to see and access them from within the Dashboard theme editor.

You can watch the Tutorial below for more:

 

For more information, visit MindVisionMedia.net

By
Allan Whitney

owner/Administrator
MindVisionMedia.net

The Next WordPress Update - My Wish List | MindVisionMedia.net

Allan's Wish List for the next WordPress upgrade:

Greetings to all from Allan at MindVisionMedia.net and I hope this post find you well!

My name is Allan, and I use WordPress everyday. There a re a few things I keep wishing WordPress had built in to the new design. This post examines a few ideas I have for the awesome development team at WordPress.


Add Comment Settings to Media File Parameters: Please give us an option to set this while already setting parameters for the media file.

By default, WordPress sets comments to on for media files. You must manually turn them off as they are not turned off in the Discussion settings along with pages and posts.

Seeing comments when you turned them off can be confusing to most. But this little know back door that allows comments (especially comment spam) to enter unobstructed.

Having an option to quickly turn comments on or off for media files while looking at and setting the main parameters for the image anyway would be super convenient.

Personally I had to go back and turn them off individually for over 100 images. Unfortunately there is no bulk editing feature to edit multiple media files at once. You can do this for pages and posts but not media files. This would be another great addition to the media section while you're adding the above-mentioned comments option guy's, add extended bulk media file actions (hint)...


Add Updated User Count to Dashboard: It would be nice to have an updated user count when logging in or "hovering" over the User link in the Dashboard.You can quickly notice if you have gained or lost users when you log in to your WordPress Dashboard. 

This gives you the ability to prioritize your time in the Dashboard by knowing right away if you need to do User Management during this session.

Lets say I have 132 users when I log out, but the next time I log in, I have 148 Users, now I know that I need to do some User management right away to check the roles for these new users and any management tasks I have set up for my members.

It can be visible already or appear when you hover over the user link as with some of the other Dashboard menu items.

Hopefully I'm not the only user who sees a use for this and it would be relatively simple to add this particular convenience feature to an already elegant and user-friendly interface.

Add Settings for Revisions: Oh boy, this one holds a special place in my WordPress heart. Please give us a setting to turn revisions on or off, or at least restrict how many we want to save on an individual post basis. Having every single edit saved is not practical for non-editorial, article or Blog-style sites.

And for some websites who challenge their allotted query limit on their database, this is a factor that can make or break a site. I shaved over 12MB off of my database recently just from unneeded revisions.

The feature is necessary but not in its present configuration. I'm hopeful that enough threads are on this topic to get the attention of WordPress so they add this much needed feature in the next update.

Add Vertical Space to "Edit Window": While creating or editing a page or post in the page/post editor, the vertical height of the content window is unnecessarily short and tight. It would be fantastic if it was at least double the height it is now.

Oh that's too much you say? No it isn't, not at all if you are a designer or developer or someone who creates content on a regular basis. 

You could always use more perspective and less scrolling! Besides, the sidebar area where you set the featured image, tags and categories in the page/post editor, consumes a considerable amount of vertical real estate and often extends way down the page, leaving the short edit window way at the top. 

More height would eliminate so much scrolling back and forth while creating or editing a page and make better use of all the vacant space in the content area that is currently all white space while scrolling to see the rest of the options in the lower part of the sidebar. 

This one just makes sense guys from a developer and editor stand point, all that unused space below the current edit window, lets push that stuff down and add 2-3 times the height to the edit window in WordPress. I think even WordPress would end up enjoying this modification!

Chime in folks, let WordPress know your thoughts and ideas. It is an Open-Source Project that can't continue to grow and dominate without real-time feedback for some its most frequent users...

By
Allan Whitney
Owner/Administrator
MindVisionMedia.net