osCommerce Books

$26.99

Product Description

A step by step introduction to osCommerce.

• A step by step introduction to osCommerce
• Install and configure osCommerce
• Build your first ecommerce website
• A special Beginnner’s edition of the complete

In Detail

Using an easy-to-read and engaging style, this book introduces the fundamentals of osCommerce, and helps you build your first online store. It covers the out-of-the-box features of osCommerce, but it also shows you how to customize the application to your own needs.

The book starts with the basics of downloading and installing osCommerce, or simply how to enable it on your Internet domain using the tools provided by your host. All of the most important configuration issues are explained, with clear instructions and advice to help you make the right choices.

Once osCommerce is installed and configured, you will take a good look at how to work with your store’s data including product information as well as other data which is responsible for keeping your site healthy.

The all important topic of customization is also dealt with comprehensively. You will see how to develop attractive sites that will make your store a pleasure to browse and your products a pleasure to buy!

Of course, no discussion on osCommerce would be complete without a look at how to obtain and treat payments. Using the modules provided with osCommerce you will be collecting money from your happy customers in no time!

Once the reader has a fully fledged, and operational site it is time to look at deployment �?? an important topic for discussion if development has taken place on a development machine.

The appendix will add a few tools to your armory and shed some light as to what is going on behind the scenes in case things go awry.

Who this book is written for?

This book is written for:

• first time users of osCommerce
• current osCommerce who would like to further customize their websites
• anyone who would like to quickly build a website for their online business

About the Author

David Mercer

David Mercer was born in August 1976 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Having always had a strong interest in science, David came into regular contact with computers at university where he graduated cum laude with majors in applied math and math (although he minored in computer science).

As a programmer and professional writer who has been writing both code and books for about nine years, he has worked on a number of well known titles, in various capacities, on a wide variety of topics. His books have sold tens of thousands of copies and have been translated into over 6 different languages to date.

David finds that the challenges arising from the dichotomous relationship between the science (and art) of software programming and the art (and science) of writing is what keeps his interest in producing books piqued. He will no doubt continue to write professionally in the future.

David balances his time between programming, reviewing, writing, and contributing to interesting web-based projects such as RankTracer and LinkDoozer. When he isn’t working (which isn’t that often) he enjoys playing guitar (generally on stage and unrehearsed) and getting involved in outdoor activities ranging from touch rugby and golf to water skiing and snowboarding. Visit RankTracer or find him on LinkDoozer where he is generally lurking.

$23.77

Product Description

The Programmers’ Guide to osCommerce offers a comprehensive look at this powerful open source solution.

Written with the experienced PHP/MySQL user in mind, it describes the functional and implementational details of installation, administration, and user-side mechanics of osCommerce. The Programmers’ Guide to osCommerce sets itself apart with its heavy emphasis on the nuts and bolts of osCommerce customization, showing the reader how to change elements, colors, text, layout, and graphics to create a highly unique storefront with ease.

The Progrmmers’ Guide to osComemrce moves you quickly through the basics and then on to the more advanced customization topics. Among the topics discussed:

- The Installation process and interface.
- The administration tools and layout.
- The store front design and functionality.

$35.39

Product Description

Learn how to design, build, and profit from a sophisticated online business.

• Install, configure, and customize osCommerce
• Enhance and modify osCommerce
• Learn from a sample, fully functional site packed with useful features such as gift certificates and discounts, cross- and up-selling, RSS feed aggregation, enhanced product image handling and bug fixes.

In Detail

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.
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.

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.

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.

Who this book is written for?

This book is written for anyone who:

• Already uses OSCommerce
• Would like to use OSCommerce
• Would like to make a website for their business
• Is charged with administering, running and maintaining an OSCommerce site
• Is interested in learning how an eCommerce application is created and maintained

About the Author

David Mercer

David Mercer was born in August 1976 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Having always had a strong interest in science, David came into regular contact with computers at university where he graduated cum laude with majors in applied math and math (although he minored in computer science).

As a programmer and professional writer who has been writing both code and books for about nine years, he has worked on a number of well known titles, in various capacities, on a wide variety of topics. His books have sold tens of thousands of copies and have been translated into over 6 different languages to date.

David finds that the challenges arising from the dichotomous relationship between the science (and art) of software programming and the art (and science) of writing is what keeps his interest in producing books piqued. He will no doubt continue to write professionally in the future.

David balances his time between programming, reviewing, writing, and contributing to interesting web-based projects such as RankTracer and LinkDoozer. When he isn’t working (which isn’t that often) he enjoys playing guitar (generally on stage and unrehearsed) and getting involved in outdoor activities ranging from touch rugby and golf to water skiing and snowboarding. Visit RankTracer or find him on LinkDoozer where he is generally lurking.

$39.20

Product Description

Ready-to-use recipes to customize and extend your e-commerce website

• osCommerce expert "Monika in Germany" lets you in on her secrets on how to hack your way to that perfect osCommerce site
• Create new modules and custom-code your default osCommerce installation
• Add extensions and features like category driven designs and individual shipping modules

In Detail

osCommerce has been around since March 2000. At present there are over 10,000 live, registered osCommerce sites, and about 100,000 registered community members. Apart from providing ready-made solutions to problems, as well as a huge repository of information, the osCommerce community is a living entity with which we can all interact. With the rising success and popularity of this remarkable piece of software, things can only get better.

What you will learn from this book? The book has 11 chapters, each dealing with a different aspect of osCommerce.

Chapter 1 equips you with a few very easy and very important changes to the basic design which will make developing and later modifying a whole new template a breeze.

Chapter 2 will help you modify your navigation to ensure a smoother shopping experience for your customers.

Chapter 3 covers infoboxes and turns you into an expert in tweaking them to your needs.

Chapter 4 deals with one of the most important visual parts of your shop, the product display in the listings and the detail page.

Chapter 5 outlines different methods to make searching on your site a fun experience. You want your customers to use your search and to find the products you want to sell to them.

Chapter 6 highlights customizations of the checkout process, namely the flow from the shopping cart to the shipping and payment pages up to the order email.

Chapter 7 talks about new shipping modules. You will learn how to adapt existing modules to create completely new rate systems for your shop.

Chapter 8 focuses on existing payment modules and how they can be tweaked.

Chapter 9 provides tips on efficiently using banners as a marketing tool.

Chapter 10 is a goodie bag of extra special treats to indulge your sweet tooth.

Chapter 11 tackles changes in the admin area. You alone will be the keeper of these secret recipes hidden to the public eye.

Approach

This book is aimed at people with existing online stores, built using osCommerce. The book follows a systematic approach whereby users can modify and extend features on their already existing osCommerce site. Each chapter deals with a different aspect , and provides ready-made recipes for modifying code to your requirements. The author starts by explaining basic changes one can make to the design of your store, and then covers features like navigation, images, shipping and payment modules, and even explains how to make changes on the administrator’s side and keeping your own recipes private.

Who this book is written for?

This book is for people who are already familiar with osCommerce. It presumes a working knowledge of PHP and HTML, as well as basic understanding of phpMyAdmin for database inserts.

About the Author

Monika Mathé

Fascinated by being able to combine logic and creativity, it seems that destiny had finally found me when I became a software developer and Oracle Certified Database Administrator.

It was a tough call to decide in which field to work, but landing a position in a marketing agency and working with everything from Oracle to SQL-Server and HTML, ASP and JavaScript was a fabulous decision I still congratulate myself for! I learned more about marketing campaigns, e-commerce, CMS and CRM than I had ever wanted to know, I mean, ever thought was possible!

I have been completely absorbed by the Open Source Community – I became an avid believer in php and in MySQL, and definitely in a love affair with osCommerce. I believe almost anything can be done with it… I challenge anyone to prove me wrong!

Being an active member of the osCommerce Online Community, I know preemptively which questions will arise in new shop creation. Presently, I am creating as many customised shops for clients as time allows: of course while urging them to add as many custom coded modules as I see fit… that’s dessert for me!

$39.20

Product Description

Increase your sales and profits with expert tips on SEO, Marketing, Design, Selling Strategies, etc.

• Turn your e-commerce site into a money-making enterprise
• Full of practical tips and tricks to improve profit with osCommerce
• Professional advice on choosing the best contributions

In Detail

If you have an osCommerce-based online business, you need this book. Packed with expert guidance on all aspects of building a better online, this book will make your store stand out from the crowd.

All approaches and techniques described here are proven to have worked well for successful osCommerce-based online businesses among the, over 650, all around the globe with which the author has been actively involved as developer, project manager, or online business consultant.

osCommerce is an open-source e-commerce solution written in PHP and MySQL that can be set up on various platforms. More than 10,000 businesses and sole traders all around the world benefit from its features and flexibility. The importance of the osCommerce community consisting of over 100,000 can not be stressed enough as this is where both online merchants and web developers can communicate and find solutions. There are many "contributions" — modules for osCommerce that further extend its functionality — making it suitable for almost every business’s requirements.

What you will learn from this book?

• Calculate and monitor profits
• Monitor and track efficiency of advertising campaigns
• Optimize your osCommerce online store for search engines
• Internal and External Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

• Getting popular on search engines
• Web page optimization
• Structure and dynamic content
• Keyword selection
• Back-linking strategies

Approach

Packed with expert advice and practical examples of effective store design and report creation to help you make better decisions, formulate more effective strategies, and measure your success.

Who this book is written for?

This book is for anyone administering an osCommerce site, including webmasters, content managers, store owners, and marketing managers, who do not need to understand PHP or MySQL to benefit from this book. The tips and techniques described in this book can be applied to any small, medium sized e-commerce site.

This is not an implementation guide; developers implementing osCommerce-based e-commerce sites would benefit from reading Deep Inside osCommerce: The Cookbook.

About the Author

Vadym Gurevych

Vadym Gurevych holds a Masters of Software Development degree from Kharkov National Technical University (Ukraine) and has been creating commercial software products for businesses for 10 years. His interest in learning more about the management and business side of the process led him to join the DataLink UK Ltd. in 2001 as Project Manager. Based in the UK, Datalink (which also trades as Holbi) concentrates on providing a wide range of bespoke e-commerce solutions to its local and international customers. In those days Vadym didn’t imagine managing open-source projects, but since 2002 he has been creating osCommerce-based sites and this has become Datalink’s main source of revenue since 2004. Now Managing Director of DataLink UK Ltd., Vadym is responsible for strategy development and business decisions, and for ensuring that his team of 30 provides customers with the most efficient solutions. Since he finds it exciting and sometimes challenging, he still personally supervises major sales deals and manages major projects. He has been happily married to his wife Elena for almost eight years now, and also finds time to write/maintain a popular blog, osCommerceBlog.com, and contribute to DatalinkUK.com and Holbi.co.uk. Vadym writes: “Talking to a customer, finding out the best solution for the business, making sure that solution is properly implemented, and seeing the business improving – is what brings satisfaction and makes me happy about the way my career has developed to date.”

Review

“…immensely helpful. I had been struggling for months to figure out osCommerce… I feel confident about working withmy store now.” — Kate Emens

“…this book is something no store owner, or web developer should find themselves without.” — Clifton Murphy, Hyperactive Inc.

“…very well written… takes all the mystery out of osCommerce… [h]ighly recommend them to anyone, including experienced web developers.” — Matt McGinnis, McGinTech

Product Description

NEW IN VERSION 2.0: Nearly 50 new pages have been added to this manual to take the mystery out of running your store, including:

- Review and comparison of Credit Card Payment Processors so you can easily choose the best one for your company’s needs. Includes fees, countries available, length of commitment, and ease of installation.
- Shipping Methods comparison to make selecting the right shipper easy.
- ALL NEW CHAPTER – Records and Database Management, Disaster Planning & Recovery. Hurricane Ivan, we’ve got you covered.

THE OSCOMMERCE USERS MANUAL, Version 2.0 shows you everything you can do yourself using the Administrative Module, once the program is installed (and we can refer you to hosts who will install your site FOR FREE), including:

- Entering your “My Store” settings
- Entering your product information
- Linking to your credit card processor or PayPal
- Setting your Shipping and Taxes
- Editing your Privacy Statement, Contact, Shipping & Returns, and Welcome page
- Maintaining Your Store, Managing Orders & Customers, and
- What you can comfortably tackle by yourself, and what you should leave to a technical pro-and we can refer you to technical pros.

PLUS, our exclusive QUICK START GUIDE can help you get your first OSCommerce Website up and running in as little as 30 minutes after installation.

CHOCK-FULL of FREE CHECKLISTS and CHEATSHEETS

…to make managing your new store a breeze, including: -List of Web Hosts, Installers & Consultants – many will install or move your store for FREE
-PRE-SETUP Checklist for Your Store
-Font and Color Selectors

-Look and Feel Checklist
-InfoBox Checklist
-Greetings Checklist
-Advanced Users’ Fully-Commented Style Sheet
-Advanced Users’ Annotated Cheat Sheet

These checklists and cheat sheets are also available to readers ON THE WEB

as forms that can be filled out by the client and emailed to the installer. They may be used by osCommerce consultants, installers and web hosts to zip through your installations!

Review

…Takes all the mystery out of working with osCommerce and I highly recommend them anyone, including experienced web developers. — Matt McGinnis, McGinTech

As an osCommerce expert…this book is something no store owner, or web developer should find themselves without. — Clifton Murphy, Hyperactive Inc.

Product Description

Everything you need to know to install, configure, install add-on contributions, troubleshoot and customize your own ecommerce store, including:

Standard Installation
Setting up Store at Root Level
Installing to a Secure SSL Server
Moving a Site to a NEW Server
Website Security
About PHP and MySQL
Setting Up Your Own Testing Site
(Optional) Installing PHP, MySQL, Apache, phpMyAdmin
osCommerce Product Architecture
Advanced Fun with Text
Advanced Fun with Emails
Advanced Fun with Colors & Graphics, and
Other Customizations.

BONUS MATERIALS:

Top 25 ERROR MESSAGES & THEIR SOLUTIONS

Installing the Top 16 CONTRIBUTIONS

REVIEWS of “Loaded” versions of osCommerce.

$12.21

Product Description

Have you fantasized about your own retail store-selling your own specialty items, showcasing unique products or better promoting existing products? Or have you dreamed of working from home, setting your own hours and still making great money? Today’s technology makes it easier than ever to take your retail dreams to the world’s largest marketplace-the Internet. In just days, you can build your own eCommerce website, reach potential customers by the millions, process orders 24/7 and accept payments from all over the world-with no technical background or graphic design skills!

• Design a professional eCommerce site using inexpensive, turnkey solutions from established companies like Google, Yahoo! and Go Daddy that require no programming or graphic design knowledge
• Create content and online deals that capture shoppers and keep them coming back
• Use surefire online tools that work 24/7 to handle payments and accept orders
• Drive traffic using Search Engine Optimization and other marketing and advertising techniques
• Skillfully handle inventory, order fulfillment, customer service and all other operations

The world’s largest marketplace is at your fingertips…take advantage of it!

About the Author

Jason R. Rich is a bestselling author of more than 35 books, including several e-commerce guides; a frequent contributor to several national magazines and daily newspapers; and a consultant to individuals and businesses looking to launch a successful e-commerce website.

Product Description

A NON-TECHNICAL guide for owners of osCommerce, osC-MAX, CartXpress, CRE Loaded, Cube Cart and Zen Cart stores. My promise to you: NO TECHNICAL JARGON! Now ANYONE can sell their products online, accept credit cards, and have the money automatically deposited into their bank account using the awesome and FREE osCommerce online store management programs. This book contains everything a NON-technical manager of a new online store needs to know to manage the day-to-day operations of a newly-built online store. Whether you are JUST THINKING about an online store, have your online store UNDER CONSTRUCTION, or already have your online store OPEN FOR BUSINESS… YOU NEED THIS BOOK. SPECIAL: includes JUMP-START GUIDE FOR NEW ONLINE STORES – A bonus guide to using the private Administration area of your new store, whether it is osCommerce or one of the programs based on or similar to osCommerce: CRE Loaded, Cube Cart, Zen Cart, osC-MAX, or CartXpress.

About the Author

Kerry Watson is the author of numerous easy-to-use books on osCommerce-based programs, including the osCommerce Users Manual, CRE Loaded Manuals, and Zen Cart Manual. She was the producer for the Netscape Navigator website and was vice president of NetAdvantage, an ecommerce turnkey outsourcing company like PayPal. Her mission is to make technology accessible to everyday user, not just technical folks. She holds an MBA and is the founder of Pithy Productions, Inc., a web project management company that specializes in custom osCommerce websites.