Joomla! VirtueMart 1.1 Theme and Template Design is a new book from Packt that will allow users to customize their Joomla! VirtueMart templates and themes with the help of necessary screenshots and explained code. Written by Joseph Kwan, this book is a comprehensive reference to all the templates in the VirtueMart default theme including usage of each template and all available fields.
virtuemart
Build an Online Store with Joomla E-Commerce and VirtueMart
Joomla! E-Commerce with VirtueMart is a new book from Packt that helps users to build their own Joomla VirtueMart e-commerce web site with Joomla! 1.0/1.5 and VirtueMart 1.1.x. Written by Suhreed Sarkar, this book guides users through installing and configuring a VirtueMart store using the Joomla CMS platform.
Readers will learn to configure their stores with the most essential shop functionality such as creating and using the appropriate zones and currencies, configure payment methods, shipping methods, and taxes. In addition to this, users will be able to manage manufacturers, vendors, products, and product categories.
Developers will be able to customize the appearance of the website by installing and configuring VirtueMart themes, managing products, orders, and using search engine friendly (SEF) URLs, thus helping them in attracting customers to their store. Along with this, they will be shown how to build a wide customer base by learning about VirtueMart’s promotional tools such as banner ads, featured products, newsletters, coupons, etc.
By using region-specific taxes, multiple currencies, installing new languages, and translating the language of the site, users will be able to add further value to their store. To broaden VirtueMart functions for bulk import/export of products to the shop catalog, users will learn to add third-party extensions to their website. They will be able to spice up their shop by updating multiple product information on the shops website, and displaying sideshows with product images at the same time.
Along with installing, setting up and customizing a brand new VirtueMart store, developers will learn to secure, maintain and troubleshoot it by backing up and restoring files and databases of the store to the server.
Review of 9 open source e-commerce platforms
Webdistortion, a web design studio in Northern Ireland, recently reviewed nine different e-commerce platforms. All nine platforms reviewed were open source software packages.
With e-commerce webdesign really starting to take off, its never been more important to choose a platform which suits you as a developer (i.e. one that you can support) and one that will provide your clients with the features that they need to run a successful online shop.
There are a number of ways of getting a shop online, and we’ve focused primarily on open source e-commerce platforms here.
Those nine e-commerce platforms under review include: osCommerce, ZenCart, VirtueMart (Joomla!/Mambo), Magento, DashCommerce, CubeCart, X-Cart, LiteCommerce, and Shopify. If you're looking for a brief and consolidated review of open source shopping carts, then the Webdistortion reivew is a nice place for you to visit.
For those curious, I found this story via DZone.
