[Danny]

LemonStand is not only a shopping cart, but a CMS. We realized that it's very rare for an eCommerce site to not have CMS needs beyond products. There are often static pages, homepages with a mix of dynamic and static content and sometimes blogs.

While the blog module has not been released yet, there are other tools to manage content in a powerful way already available.

That being said, we have found many people asking us if LemonStand could be integrated with third-party CMSs. We would like to find out from the community why some of you would like to use other CMSs - because of habit/comfort or because LemonStand is missing some key CMS features.

Please let us know what you think. We are striving to build the best shopping cart possible and this means solid CMS features will be included, either as modules in the future, or core features.

This is your chance to direct the future of LemonStand!

Edit: If you prefer, comment on the corresponding blog post: http://lemonstandapp..._that_you_want/

[feather]

I think part of the desire to integrate into other CMSes is simply that when a site already exists, or when you're using a familiar tool that you've already extended to do what you want with plugins/extensions etc, the prospect of starting it all over again in another CMS (even if it has a store attached to it) is daunting.

[Danny]

Thanks feather, we thought that might be the case. However, integrating two systems together can also be quite daunting. Especially when we are talking about a shopping cart which has unique security concerns.

This is why we want to make LemonStand as flexible and intuitive as possible, so the learning curve is not greater than the return you'll get from 1 cohesive, feature rich website.

Keep the feedback coming!

[pmeissner]

A contact form with reply email template would be nice. Something simple to implement and has a few parameters like expression engines http://expressioneng...ntact_form.html

Also, polls would be a nice addition to the blog module.

[pauneugen]

I would like the blog module just to keep the same design on the whole site. Polls, contact forms and others as such can be easily made with simple PHP and some MySQL and implemented as partials. Doing so you can use only what you really need.

I think we would need a rating system or some other way to review a product. Also a generator for a valid sitemap.xml would be nice. And that's about all for my needs.

Yes, I have a big problem with CMS integrating anything and everything in the core. I want to be able to choose only what I need. I know it is not quite a good comparision, but look at WordPress for example, who seems to become a little bloated with features very few use.

This post has been edited by pauneugen: 05 February 2010 - 12:14 AM

[Danny]

Thanks both of you!

We agree with not bloating LemonStand. We won't necessarily integrate everything as core features. And we certainly won't integrate some features suggested at all. And some ideas could come later as modules, like the blog for example.

But we want to refine our existing CMS features to the best possible. Maybe it's not even adding things, but removing things. Or just changing how certain things are done. Let us know!

Your ideas are really valuable, and while we have our own opinions, we'll consider our customers as well.

[pmeissner]

@pauneugen I agree that lemonstand should stay lean an mean. But, polls and contact forms are not simple PHP to me. I'm a copy and paster when it comes to PHP and MYSQL. I'm a print designer at heart with no web training. So maybe a nice balance would be a partial library hosted on the wiki that people can choose features from.

[feather]

Quote

integrating two systems together can also be quite daunting. Especially when we are talking about a shopping cart which has unique security concerns.

Right -- but quite often when we're setting up stores, we'll put that on a secure subdomain such as store.example.com. We'll use our existing templates and run the store separately. Not ideal, but usually a path that is not painful.

Quote

This is why we want to make LemonStand as flexible and intuitive as possible, so the learning curve is not greater than the return you'll get from 1 cohesive, feature rich website.

For new sites, wouldn't be a problem. It's the migration or integration or starting over that would remain a barrier to me.

[vyoumans]

I am a drupal developer. Drupal has a CMS called UBERCART, that is pretty feature rich, but I would really be more comfortable with a dedicated ecom solution. So, perhaps some strategies there would help. If would certainly get a lot of attention from the DRUPAl community if you did something there.

[Danny]

@vyoumans - not sure what you specifically had in mind, but we definitely won't be integrating with Drupal. If you read the comments on the blog post of the same topic you'll see some reasons why http://lemonstandapp..._that_you_want/

Just wanted to be open and clear with you about this.

Thanks

[nicolas.l]

Hi,

Many of my clients starts with a "classic" CMS and then eventually migrate to a full blown ecommerce website.

In order to be as versatile as possible, a module or an Custom Data Type API would be a great feature to have ( think about Drupal's CCK or WordPress' Pods UI -wich is GREAT- ); e.g. : my client Mr Manufacturer wants to manage the store's information (name, address, latitude, longiture) where you can find his product.

With such a feature Lemonstand could become my Swiss Army knife for website AND ecommerce solutions.
Will there be a detailed documentation about module development, the 'Extendind Lemonstand" section of the wiki is desperatly empty? How to interact with the database model?

Thanks,
Nicolas

[pmeissner]

For convenience it would be nice to have a simple, built-in way to encode email addresses -- similar to the way Expression Engine does it. http://expressioneng...html#var_encode

[allibubba]

multiple variations!

i've been playing with product creation and it looks like you only have the option for one variation set (maybe i'm missing something).

for example, if i have a configurable product (grouped wrapper), which has the following simple products:
black-small
black-large
white-small
white-medium
white-large

the product variation dropdown populates with all variations. i think this needs some serious attention, should have multiple dependent variations available like this

select color -> black -> populates size dropdown with small & large black
and
select color -> white -> populates size dropdown with small,medium & large white

imagine if a product had several variations like size, color, material, which would lead to a very large dropdown

[maifithc]

I know people may think this is pretty silly, but an easier way to have a blog integrated would be a fantastic feature. A lot of my clients want a blog as a part of their eComm suite. I usually have to hack it together.

[temma2k2]

Hi All,

Just a quick question, im looking to put a portfolio on my site and would normally create custom tables in the database, would lemonstandapp have a table administration module or do i have to use p h p m y a d m i n and pull my data in through partials?

Another quick thing, if i start writing modules for lemonstandapp will new updates over write or delete my code?

Cheers
Sam

[rwparris2]

Adding (un-removing) the ability for tiny mce to create tables would be a nice :)

[Aleksey]

Quote

Adding (un-removing) the ability for tiny mce to create tables would be a nice :)

Hi, rwparris2!

Thank you for the suggestion. We are waiting for a stable release of the Tiny MCE 3.3 branch to replace the current version of the editor in LemonStand. The TM 3.3 has slightly different configuration options, and we will need to rework the HTML Editor Settings user interface in LemonStand. We will add a plugin management feature and you will be able to add buttons which are not available at the moment.

Aleksey