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One reason why I started using osCommerce is because it has already received wide patronage giving an impression of reliability. Since it’s an open source, downloadable-for-free software, it’s very suitable for people who are on a tight budget. Being an open-source software, it is also very flexible because there is always room for customization. And, if problems arise, since it is well supported by its developers, I always have people to ask. However, it took me some time to do the customization especially if I do not get any help from developers. Thus, even if it’s for free, since customization is not that easy, I still have to shed some money to hire somebody to customize it for me.

Getting started using OsCommerce is a breeze because of its automatic web browser installation and upgrade procedure. I especially like the fact that I can make quick and easy changes in the layout. On the downside, since there are no templates available and I can only edit the footer, the header and the right and left columns, I do not have much room in design creativity. Thus, if you are looking for software that offers a lot of templates, then I do not recommend osCommerce for you. However, the features of the software come in default in a complete out-of-the-box solution and it has an object oriented backend making changes easy to do. Aside from these, osCommerce widens the range of my possible customers since it’s multi-lingual (English, German and Spanish speaking users) and multi-currency.

As for security, even though it’s an open-source software, I did not have to worry because osCommerce provides a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption for my customers. The downside comes in the administration side. It does not have any built-in password protect for the administration area. I still have to go to the osCommererce site or ask the people responsible for my website to add password protection.

One of the best things I like about osCommerce is that it does its own optimization for my site. It presents catalogs, newsletters, reviews, and features for products related to what I am advertising. Yet, the osCommerce shopping cart is not so effective with large catalogs. If I have more than a hundred products and if I frequently change some information about the products, I would need to modify some elements in the product administration and have modules to manage the data. For catalogs that have thousands of products, some problems in searching and browsing may arise.

One difficulty one may have as a first-time owner of an e-commerce site is the terms that are used loosely which is the origin of all confusion. When you scroll down to the end page of any Algozone website some links to products are arranged side by side. The phrases osCommerce Template and osCommerce Skins are often mistaken one for the other. We’ve always recommended for e-commerce starter-sites to purchase a template first and build up the site for it to be ready for shopping cart integration. To get you started on the template you would want to purchase and the skins you would like to have, we must first define the two terms. Skins and Templates are what makes up a layout, one template can have several skins while skins can be used for different templates. The difference of these 2 elements goes beyond color and lines, read on since most osCommerce sites deal in these terms. The Skin is the term used for all the following elements of how a page is to look.

• Index -This is your Home Page
• Content Page – your post and comments
• Archive List – this is where all your prior articles have been put in folders according to month.
• Archive – is the page where all entries for the month are displayed.
• Pop-ups – this is where images of a pop up are controlled.

Taking the elements into consideration, Skins are the outer part of the layout which attract and engage the browsers. The template on the other hand has the items below to control for a websites’ look.

• Item header – Your post title and description.
• Item Body – This is the posted text.
• Item Footer – this can contain added information or footnote or a Learn More text to redirect a reader to another page.
• Comments Area – this is where messages are typed and posted if the site owner wishes.

The Template is also responsible for the ‘look’ of each item above and some of the organizing elements that make up a website page. The following are the controlled by the template itself: archives look, categories in the navigation bar, parts of the search & query and the locale settings (date & time).

Both the template and the skin are complimentary; it all boils down to the Template being the framework while the Skin is the outward component of a site. Without a skin a template will look drab while a skin just can’t be without a template. AlgoZone osCommerce templates are all designed for the comfort and ease of any customer while the skins are there to delight the eye.

Feel free to visit AlgoZone for osCommerce Skins and Templates that are adaptable to any platform.