What's the difference between the demo web shop and the starter kit?
I just want to install a fully-featured instance of Tea Commerce for evaluation purposes and am wondering which is best to install on top of the core package.
The Demo webshop would be best for evaluation purposes as it shows a few more possibilities. It also have a preimplemented design, so you will have something nice to look at.
The Starter Kit is for starting a new webshop. It is easy to build on and have no design.
Regarding the starter kit... I just had a play with the starter kit example online: http://starterkit.teacommerce.dk. ; I disabled Javascript and it allowed me to place an order right the way from cart page through to confirmation without supplying any name/address/delivery credentials at all. Part of my concern (could be very wrong - so please do correct me) with this package is that it's too client-side heavy and things like validation rely solely on the client. I'm comfortable with a .NET e-commerce system needing javascript to be enabled to work properly, but I'd hope that it would fail gracefully through server-side validation too, should the user not have javascript support. It's going to be rare I know, but the point is that I'd want my cart to let the user know that something's wrong rather than continue right through the order process without the required details. Maybe this just needs configuring and isn't pre-configured in the starter kit though.
There a few questions there, and heres some answers :)
1. Yes, the client needs to have JavaScript enabled to be able to place an order with Tea Commerce. If JavaScript is NOT enabled you cannot place an order. You can go to the confirmation page yes, but there will be no order to show, as it has not been created.
2. Security and validation is all serverside. The client side script all call the server, which takes care of all business. If you need to servervalidate the users input somehow, you can easily extend Tea Commerce with the event based .NET API. There are extensions everything that happens on the server.
3. About how it should fail gracefully I'm up for suggestions. But for it to be implemented in the Starter Kit, which has to be very general and easy to use, it has to be general as well.
I hope this answers your questions. If it does'nt, ask again :)
Yep, thanks Rune. I guess my suggestion (based only on my first tests with the starter kit) really would be just basic error messages to be generated server-side when you try to submit any form without the required credentials. If you're a non-techy customer and you happen to have javascript disabled (rare, but certainly possible) you can currently place an order - or at least look as if you have - without completing any required fields and you're non the wiser that the order hasn't actually been placed. It would be much better IMHO to match the client-side form validation on the server-side so that there's zero risk of confusion at all. I think Contour does this - you get both client and server-side validation on every form so there's absolutely no risk of confusion with the user.
I think the solution is to just not link to the cart if the cart is empty. Then the customer would'nt be able to get there, and be confused. I believe this is allready the case.
In the cart xslt it could just show "your cart is empty". The demo website does this I think.
The key is, that without JavaScript, the cart will allways be empty.
Difference between demo web shop and starter kit
Hi,
What's the difference between the demo web shop and the starter kit?
I just want to install a fully-featured instance of Tea Commerce for evaluation purposes and am wondering which is best to install on top of the core package.
Thanks
Hi Dan,
The Demo webshop would be best for evaluation purposes as it shows a few more possibilities. It also have a preimplemented design, so you will have something nice to look at.
The Starter Kit is for starting a new webshop. It is easy to build on and have no design.
/Rune
That makes a lot of sense, thanks.
Regarding the starter kit... I just had a play with the starter kit example online: http://starterkit.teacommerce.dk. ; I disabled Javascript and it allowed me to place an order right the way from cart page through to confirmation without supplying any name/address/delivery credentials at all. Part of my concern (could be very wrong - so please do correct me) with this package is that it's too client-side heavy and things like validation rely solely on the client. I'm comfortable with a .NET e-commerce system needing javascript to be enabled to work properly, but I'd hope that it would fail gracefully through server-side validation too, should the user not have javascript support. It's going to be rare I know, but the point is that I'd want my cart to let the user know that something's wrong rather than continue right through the order process without the required details. Maybe this just needs configuring and isn't pre-configured in the starter kit though.
Your thoughts would be really appreciated.
Thanks
There a few questions there, and heres some answers :)
1. Yes, the client needs to have JavaScript enabled to be able to place an order with Tea Commerce. If JavaScript is NOT enabled you cannot place an order. You can go to the confirmation page yes, but there will be no order to show, as it has not been created.
2. Security and validation is all serverside. The client side script all call the server, which takes care of all business. If you need to servervalidate the users input somehow, you can easily extend Tea Commerce with the event based .NET API. There are extensions everything that happens on the server.
3. About how it should fail gracefully I'm up for suggestions. But for it to be implemented in the Starter Kit, which has to be very general and easy to use, it has to be general as well.
I hope this answers your questions. If it does'nt, ask again :)
/Rune
Yep, thanks Rune. I guess my suggestion (based only on my first tests with the starter kit) really would be just basic error messages to be generated server-side when you try to submit any form without the required credentials. If you're a non-techy customer and you happen to have javascript disabled (rare, but certainly possible) you can currently place an order - or at least look as if you have - without completing any required fields and you're non the wiser that the order hasn't actually been placed. It would be much better IMHO to match the client-side form validation on the server-side so that there's zero risk of confusion at all. I think Contour does this - you get both client and server-side validation on every form so there's absolutely no risk of confusion with the user.
I see what you mean.
I think the solution is to just not link to the cart if the cart is empty. Then the customer would'nt be able to get there, and be confused. I believe this is allready the case.
In the cart xslt it could just show "your cart is empty". The demo website does this I think.
The key is, that without JavaScript, the cart will allways be empty.
/Rune
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