My Take On CC5 Official Release

[Guest KatGirl]

After playing with the Beta and RC versions, I was excited when CC released their official CC5 for public purchase. I've been playing with it for a couple of days and here's my review in general.

At A Glance

I love CC. It's one of the easiest eCommerce solutions to use or tweak on the market today. By and large, it doesn't take much to get it up and running, even if I do have to install the thing myself via FTP.

Ideally, it would be even better if Al allowed CC4 or CC5 to be included in popular Auto Installer software like Installatron to make the installation process easier for non technical people. Auto Installers make good business sense, and it will generate more income to CubeCart because the average non-technical person can instantly install it without fuss and without having to pay someone to do it.

Gaining a license can still be achieved via www.cubecart.com to activate the store so maybe someone might like to discuss this down the track?

Admin Control Panel

Hmmm.... its busy. That's what I think at a glance.

• The sidebar is overwhelming to say the least. It's like a bombardment of too much information cramped into too little space. It looks messy. It's also not user friendly. Surely the vital information like "General Settings" that determine the structure of the online store should be right at the top of the left sidebar instead of almost hidden half way down the page?
  
• It also took me a while to figure out where the STORE link was. I preferred it in the sidebar. It's easier to see.
  
• The loading of sectional tabs is fast; certainly much faster than when the guys were building it. Congrats on that.
  
• Dashboard is great. Love it. Just not sure why I have the option of assigning a 'pending' manual invoice to my dashboard. Surely that should be automatic?
  
• I positively LOVE the edit orders section.
  
• Love quantity discounts, too!
  
• Once again, the boys did outstanding work on the product pages. It's simplified even with the tabs!
  
• Not sure why I need to display a "language icon" if I'm only using (1) language and its my default. Why does the icon still show? No one can change the language, even if they wanted to.
  

Installation and general bugs

Sorry, Al, but there's still bugs in CC5.

After installing and playing inside the admin, it just decided to lock me out while I was working. My trial license key was suddenly 'invalid' so I had to log back into my account on CC, copy and paste the trial key again and insert it into the key window to gain access to the store. I had to also start over on what I was doing because the information was lost.

Disappearing Settings

1) I've read about 'disappearing' settings on the forum - well, that's still happening, at least to me. I've had to reset my General Settings a couple of times already, and its not a great thing to see because its a pain the ass having to start over again, particularly when the project was 'content' intensive.

Orders

1) One of the best features about CC is the ability to edit or create an order right inside my admin. Kudos Al and team. 10/10 for this feature!

What is a disappointment about this feature is the inability to add a shipping fee directly into the shipping input field when I create a manual invoice. I can enter the amount into the shipping input field but the refresh icon doesn't refresh the total. Now I suppose this might be due to not assigning a courier to my manual invoice - but sometimes that's not required. There is a thing as "one off store delivery". So I cannot add shipping $$ value to that input field. Now people might say 'just add it via the 'add' line feature'. Sure, if you want to do it that way, but I don't. I want my shipping total to be in the shipping input field, rather than as an 'added' line entry where the products reside. It's all about logic to me!

2) Adding Fields within the "Total" column would be a nice touch and practically essential in my view! Adding a handling fee, for instance, would look more professional on the invoice if it was added to the Tally column rather than adding it like a product.

3) I applied a 10% discount to a manually created invoice. Nice feature!

Credit Returns

1) Goodness, where the devil is Returns? Surely this standard and essential feature has been forgotten by someone? Any one? I'm a bit confused why Returns Management isn't a staple system in CC5. How do I manage my stock returns?

Inventory Images

I've been using CC for about 7yrs and I'm pretty comfortable with templates and such, but damn, talk about a walk in the dark!

If I struggled to work out WHERE exactly or WHAT exactly to change in order to resize my inventory images, I cannot imagine how a newbie or non-tech user would feel when they cannot change the size of their images either! This system - or perhaps a basic lack of documentation with the install - isn't user friendly. I did work out that changing the config.xml file within the current skin will change the image size. But... It will only change One Side of the image via ratio changes. So if I wanted to display my image based on WIDTH rather than height, I cant if my image is taller than it is wide because there's only one setting for image size in the config.xml file.

CC4 had a nice feature with resizing images. Why is this not included in CC5?

Hooks

There's been a lot of 'talk' about hooks with the upcoming release of CC5 and with the official release of CC5 people are still talking about this "magic potion" like a fantastic selling point. I've found no 'selling' point in this regard. If an average user wanted to modify their store in some way, again, a lack of documentation on how to achieve this is apparent. I can only guess what system CC5 is using: vQmod? It looks very similar to vQmod - a hook system that is generated via XML files (or similar) so the core files remain untouched.

Will CubeCart release documentation on how to use this for store owners who purchase a license?

One Page Checkout

Kudos to the gang for introducing this much demanded request. It's the only nice thing about the checkout, unfortunately. I used Marius skin - because I cannot change to other skins, and the checkout page is messy, cluttered and overwhelming, even for me. It's also not entirely logical. Just my view.

Skins

Yeah, she just had to go there.... [grin]

After changing the config file for my thumbnails - ridiculous to use such small thumbs! - I had to log out of my trial system and then relog back in just to see the changes. Of course I could have just cleared my cache - surprisingly, I did just that but the images didn't change size. I also changed skins and enabled 'allow user to change skins' front end, because I wanted to see how the skins looked with my much improved thumbnail sizing.

Well,.... I couldn't change the skin. It remained on Marius even though I changed the default skin in Admin, and enabled skin switcher. I also lost my products on the home page. They just disappeared entirely. Even reverting back to Marius skin and disabling skin switcher didn't produce my products. They are MIA from the homepage.

Last thoughts.

I know Al will be disappointed in my review - sorry Al! - but I have to be honest here. I AM a fan of CC and anyone who knows me knows this. Heck, I still use CC3 for my business! I have multiple licenses for CC4 so there's no dispute I am a fan.

But....

After playing with CC5 for about 2 days I've decided not to use it for my new business venture until such time as the bugs are ironed out completely. I realise this is the first release, but according to Al and the gang, its a stable release. Stable should mean just that. Stable.

Paying $180 for a unstable system that constantly shuts me out, deletes information in a blink of an eye, makes resizing images a nightmare to the third degree, and looses products from the home page whenever it feels like it when I change skins isn't stable to me. FYI: my products returned to the home page after I logged out and closed out of firefox. This morning, when I logged in, the products were on the home page. I still cannot change skins, though!

Kate

[Guest hennaboy]

I think the navigation is really one of those things where its going to suit some and not others. If you have been using cubecart before then you may find it difficult as its not the same. However its like getting in a new car. Once you get used to where all the bits n bobs are then you start to appreciate how it has been designed.

I really didnt like it during beta testing and nothing has changed but as im upgrading my cc4 to cc5 I now find myself liking it more than my cc4 acp.

The gd size setting for images should be brought back that is a loss for sure.

Checkout is very cluttered I agree. I am thinking some clever hiding div content could reduce that somewhat so the next bit you have to complete appears as you proceed.

Licence issues. This is a weird one. I was working on my setup yesterday and in Firefox and IE9 I have a licence key issue and cannot access the ACP. However in chrome I am logged in no problem :S

Hooks. Ive seen many systems use this. Never seen it get used much as nobody really understands how!

Issues with disappearing settings and products. I am starting to wonder if this is system OS related depending on the settings/restrictions imposed by the server setup. Not seen it myself but I am running my own server setup. Obviously it should not be happening but its going to be a tricky one to reproduce. Everyone is going to need to supply support with as much detail and access to their site to get this one resolved.

Returns. Was there supposed to be a returns system? would be a very good idea to have it however most systems I have seen that are robust have this as a paid for modification.

[Al Brookbanks]

Thanks for sparing the time to share your thoughts.

[Guest hennaboy]

Is the allow delivery address an admin enable option as I do not see it?

Nevermind found it in the stock part of the ACP.

[Robsta]

@KatGirl, for the problems you have encountered did you report the bugs?

[Al Brookbanks]

I moved this out of tech support forum to general discussion where is is more suitable. I think some of KatGirls findings are bugs. For one all new orders should go to the pending tab on the dashboard.

We are working hard to fix any issues that were not reported to us during the extensive beta testing period. Once 5.0.1 is released concentration will be moved towards 5.1.0 which will bridge the main gaps missing in 5.0.0. These were outlined on the beta microsite many months ago.

[Guest KatGirl]

@ hennaboy

Thanks for your input. It's good to read what others think of the new release CC5 too!

I too run my own dedicated server. I do not have shared hosting. So I'm a bit confused on why I have things disappearing. I logged out of CC5 today using the logout feature near "store closed' hyperlink, and I was given a blank page for my efforts. I closed out of that browser window and brought up a fresh FF window and attempted to bring the store up. A blank screen. So I tried logging in. A blank screen.

It frustrates me no end when things do not work the first time, particularly if its an online business.

Returns Management is pretty standard on most eCommerce systems today and its generally FREE not a paid service. Prestashop. CS Cart. OpenCart. Magento - they are all free and robust and they all have credit return management systems in place. How do I know this? Well, without declaring that I'm jumping ship (OMG, did I just say that? :-) ) I've been testing and trialing all popular carts in the last 7days including CC5 to see which system is most suitable to my needs for a new business venture I'm embarking on. No, its not for Serira Designs. I'll keep CC for that, never fear!

CC5 has Edit Orders/Create Orders in admin which I particularly like, but so does the others (except OC). CC5 wins hands down in the Edit Order layout and logic department. On the whole I like CC5 but its simply not stable enough for me to use. I need consistency if I'm going to use an online ecommerce software. I don't mind paying money to achieve this, but I won't pay money for something that doesn't deliver in a consistent fashion.

Magento was, and still is, the elite of eCommerce software today. But elite isn't always the right way to go. It has huge CPU intensive issues just to run it, and that makes it almost impossible for anyone to use it. Again, I have my own Dedicated Server and even I struggled with using this system without it crashing.

CS-Cart is a good ecommerce solution all round, and I'm a fan of it and how it runs back end, but the community (free) version lacks the essential things I need to run my business. The paid version has everything I need but at $298 its a bit rich for me.

I like OpenCart a lot. It's free. It's easy to use and easy to skin, but it doesn't have the ability to edit an invoice in admin - that's a free addon, which I'll install just to see how editing invoices works but I doubt it will match CC5 Edit/Create Order system. From what I've seen and tested and trailed in the last 7days, I sincerely doubt there's a system out there that works like CC5's order system.

On the whole, had the CC5 trial install I tested worked flawlessly from getgo I would have paid the upgrade fee most happily and used it for my business. I would have also used it for all my other businesses in a blink of an eye because I like how the team have put CC5 together (with the exception of a couple of niggling things like no returns management, resizing images, and cluttered checkout).

@ Al, sorry if my review hurt, particularly in light of all the hours you spent ironing out bugs and getting CC5 to launch, but good feedback - good and bad - provides a platform for improvement, wouldn't you agree? And I always have time to offer my opinions :-)

@ Rob - I haven't as yet. I didn't want to jump the gun in case it was a one off issue or the issues I outlined above relates wholly to the trial licensing and such. If other people report the same issues, then its a bug.

Lastly, I'm prepared to believe what I experienced was a one off string of issues and not the 'heart' of CC5, I will uninstall my trial version and start afresh tonight. I'll use the same download zip I received and see how I go. I'm am extremely hopeful this 2nd install will work flawlessly and if it does - nor not - I will post my review and my 2nd findings here for others to read and join in.

Kate

[Guest KatGirl]

Update on 2nd Install.

Creating Customer Groups

This isn't particularly user friendly. Some pages desperately require more visual 'prompts' to help understand how things work. I keep forgetting that CC5 now has "popup" assistance. I daresay I will remember where it is, and the fact that its there if I use CC5 more. But for now, after some fiddling and going back and forth, I finally worked out how to assign a Group to a manually created customer.

1) Create the group. In my instance I did:

- Wholesale

- Retail

2) Edit Customer to assign the Group

Because I created two groups, I finally worked out that I had to delete Wholesale from the "group list" on the CUSTOMER EDIT page, so "retail" remained for that customer. I did think I had to 'create' a group as its there so i thought I had to do this. But I don't so its a bit misleading.

Now the 'customer' can only view Retail pricing while another dummy test customer was assigned Wholesale pricing and neither the pair shall meet!

Whoo Hoo! Cool feature :-)

Creating A New Customer

Yesterday this system worked without issue. Today, with a brand new 2nd install it doesn't. [sigh]

- address details will not save for manually created accounts

Creating New Manual Orders

Again, yesterday it worked. Today it doesn't.

- Information doesn't stay saved. Any information including adding a product to a manual invoice and clicking 'save' doesn't retain the information.

- Adding "Address" details via manual invoice creation doesn't save either.

I'm still playing with my 2nd install. So far, I don't know what to think. I want to use CC5 because of the cool features but its not playing fair.

Anyone else experiencing problems?

[Guest Technocrat]

Hello KatGirl,

Thank you for your comments.

I would like to start out by saying that you can't make everyone happy. I have worked on enough projects to know that's just how it is. I am not trying to invalidate your comments just trying to point out that there will surely be things that will not work as you expect or want. Those areas will hopefully be filled by mod makers and alike. Or by Al (or me) at some point in the future.

To speak to your bugs, we tried our best to squash as many as possible during testing. Hence the reason for such a long incubation period. We closed just about every open bug ticket before releasing v5.0.0. Though we had a number of really good beta testers I am not sure if there was enough testers to test every feature on all possible setups. We try our best but things get missed obviously. This is unfortunately very common on first release of a new product. I am sure you can think of a number of examples of this case. Most of which are fixed by the future releases.

I know those are excuses but I am not sure what else to say. We could have always used more testing. If you were such a long users of CC you could have helped us test the beta or RC. It would have obviously been very helpful.

Not sure why I need to display a "language icon" if I'm only using (1) language and its my default. Why does the icon still show? No one can change the language, even if they wanted to.

Fixed next release

I've read about 'disappearing' settings on the forum - well, that's still happening, at least to me. I've had to reset my General Settings a couple of times already, and its not a great thing to see because its a pain the ass having to start over again, particularly when the project was 'content' intensive.

I think we have fixed that but I am not sure. This is the scariest bug to me as I wrote the config I am not sure what is causing it but I put in some safe guards to hopefully head this off. The issue we have is reproducing it since we can't find a stable way to do it.

What is a disappointment about this feature is the inability to add a shipping fee directly into the shipping input field when I create a manual invoice. I can enter the amount into the shipping input field but the refresh icon doesn't refresh the total. Now I suppose this might be due to not assigning a courier to my manual invoice - but sometimes that's not required. There is a thing as "one off store delivery". So I cannot add shipping $$ value to that input field. Now people might say 'just add it via the 'add' line feature'. Sure, if you want to do it that way, but I don't. I want my shipping total to be in the shipping input field, rather than as an 'added' line entry where the products reside. It's all about logic to me!

Adding Fields within the "Total" column would be a nice touch and practically essential in my view! Adding a handling fee, for instance, would look more professional on the invoice if it was added to the Tally column rather than adding it like a product.

Goodness, where the devil is Returns? Surely this standard and essential feature has been forgotten by someone? Any one? I'm a bit confused why Returns Management isn't a staple system in CC5. How do I manage my stock returns?

Put in a tickets for them

If I struggled to work out WHERE exactly or WHAT exactly to change in order to resize my inventory images, I cannot imagine how a newbie or non-tech user would feel when they cannot change the size of their images either! This system - or perhaps a basic lack of documentation with the install - isn't user friendly. I did work out that changing the config.xml file within the current skin will change the image size. But... It will only change One Side of the image via ratio changes. So if I wanted to display my image based on WIDTH rather than height, I cant if my image is taller than it is wide because there's only one setting for image size in the config.xml file.

CC4 had a nice feature with resizing images. Why is this not included in CC5?

I agree to both of these and felt the same way. Time just ran out. Again if you could put in tickets for these it will remind me to look at this at some point soon.

There's been a lot of 'talk' about hooks with the upcoming release of CC5 and with the official release of CC5 people are still talking about this "magic potion" like a fantastic selling point. I've found no 'selling' point in this regard. If an average user wanted to modify their store in some way, again, a lack of documentation on how to achieve this is apparent. I can only guess what system CC5 is using: vQmod? It looks very similar to vQmod - a hook system that is generated via XML files (or similar) so the core files remain untouched.

Will CubeCart release documentation on how to use this for store owners who purchase a license?

Hooks need documentation that's a for sure things and one that I am sure will be addressed at some point. But due to the high end user nature of them it was just left to the side. We are also adding them in droves as people use v5 and find other areas that need hooks. I am sure Al agrees as well that this needs work and it will get done at some point.

Kudos to the gang for introducing this much demanded request. It's the only nice thing about the checkout, unfortunately. I used Marius skin - because I cannot change to other skins, and the checkout page is messy, cluttered and overwhelming, even for me. It's also not entirely logical. Just my view.

Do you have some suggestions?

[Al Brookbanks]

Thanks for your comments Technocrat.

If people report bug.. we fix them....

If people don't report bugs we don't fix them...

People probably think we are lazy.. but its not the case. Solving bug after bug during beta testing is tough to say the least. An uphill battle that seemingly never ends.

With time v5 will be solid. Thanks for your help, thoughts and comments.

[Guest KatGirl]

@ Technocrat - thanks for your input. It was nicely written. I agree that we cannot please everyone. No issue there.

If you were such a long users of CC you could have helped us test the beta or RC. It would have obviously been very helpful.

To be honest here, there seemed to be so many people beta testing and adding their thoughts, ideas, bug tracks, etc... I didn't think my involvement was required. Sorry if I missed the boat.

Update: I've encountered more bugs within the 2nd install which I noted on the bug tracker. I've also added a couple of feature requests and tweaks to existing systems.

Again I will stress that my review is just that: a review on my experience with the official CC5 release. My review is not directed at any one person, nor is it an attack against anyone.

I believe I noted multiple times how great CC, Al and the team was for bringing in must have features. That's a compliment in my eyes, and not a criticism.

People probably think we are lazy.. but its not the case. Solving bug after bug during beta testing is tough to say the least. An uphill battle that seemingly never ends.

I never implied anyone was lazy. Not sure where you got the implication from.

If people report bug.. we fix them....

If people don't report bugs we don't fix them...

I have reported the bugs. I did this because after a 2nd install, they appear to be bugs and not isolated incidents or browser related glitches. Taking my time and not rushing in over zealously meant I could give the official release the benefit of the doubt.

With time v5 will be solid.

Shouldn't it be solid now? As a paying customer, my question is valid. CC5 is officially released and sold for $$ value around the world. Small and minor glitches that don't affect the running of the store would be - and should be - expected but lots of glitches and major bugs means it probably shouldn't have been released.

Thanks for your help, thoughts and comments.

I guess that's not directed at me huh? :yeahhh:

[Al Brookbanks]

Thanks Kat. I agree with you entirely and understand the perspective. Thanks for all your reports. Any bugs in existing features will be rolled into 5.0.1. Any feature request will be put on hold and reviewed for 5.1 which should start development after the 5.0.1 release.

[Guest Technocrat]

To be honest here, there seemed to be so many people beta testing and adding their thoughts, ideas, bug tracks, etc... I didn't think my involvement was required. Sorry if I missed the boat.

Kat I will tell you what I always say to people that say that; You can never have to many testers. People will always use systems differently and on different setups. The more people that test the more feedback you hopefully get. Though it might have seen that there was a lot of people that were testing the number that were giving feed back in my opinion was very low.

Shouldn't it be solid now? As a paying customer, my question is valid. CC5 is officially released and sold for $$ value around the world. Small and minor glitches that don't affect the running of the store would be - and should be - expected but lots of glitches and major bugs means it probably shouldn't have been released.

Agreed. But again we tried our best to test and fix everything before the release. There was never any intention to release something if it didn't work and I think in both our opinions it was ready to go. We both knew that there would be some issues and that is obviously the case. So far I personally have only fixed two bugs that I would classify as ones that should have absolutely been fixed before the release. I don't know how those escaped testing but they did and should be fixed very soon. Along with a number of other bugs.

I apologize for any issues but it will get better.

[Guest KatGirl]

Just to update the one or two loyal followers of this post (grin) and to maintain the integrity of my review, I've installed the very latest CC5 with new fixes, etc.. and given it a whirl. Yes, yes, I'm persevering with CC5 to see if it will come out on top. Call me silly or call me determined - I know which I prefer :-)

Usability

Well, it seems that 90% of the original issues I had with the first release [refer to my very first post] has been cleared up with this latest release [hooray!]. Kudos to Al and his team for including a couple of my recommendations to make life for us simple merchants easier all round [double hooray!]

But, as with any new program when one issue is fixed it seems like another issue pops up just to aggravate me. I've been a regular lately at the bug tracker site - much to Al's continuing horror, I'd imagine

But Does CC5 Work Smoothly?

I have to say on the whole, yes, it does.

Sure, I've encountered one or two glitches which I've opened new bug tracker reports so Al and his team can review and/or fix but on the whole it works a whole lot smoother than the first release.

The most irritating issues that are still pending with CC5 are major in my view. The plus side is that the system isn't crashing like it did before - nor am I being thrown out of CC and all data lost, but becoming frustrated with simple things is irritating to me. Usability is critical to sustainability of any program, and if I struggle to establish my online business in a fashion that isn't confusing or difficult or worse - time consuming - then its perceived new Cuber members will struggle more so. That's my view.

I've always been a huge fan of CC, as you well know, and even with the niggling little issues that seem to pop up out of nowhere, I will purchase a CC5 license because even in its infant stage the program is good. It has just about everything I need to run my new business without heavily modifying it. Now, having said that, it doesn't mean I won't modify it. I have to, so I can use it in the manner that I want.

List of Essential Modifications: Unless Al and his team fix these first??

1) Fix the sidebar menu.

I'm at a complete loss as to why a major eCommerce player like CubeCart would authorize and approve the usage of non-closing JQuery accordion menus in their new 'designer' skins.

I absolutely have to ask: What was the rationale behind this? Cost? Page space? Key stroke fees? A lack of knowledge? Time?

Whatever the reason, there cannot be any justification for implementing a non-closing JQuery menu in today's e-commerce market. Forget the fact that I'm a designer, and concentrate on the fact that I'm a business woman.

Can you imagine a shop with an exceedingly long list of categories? - and yes, they are out there. I know of one Cuber (very well) who has 800 categories (to date) because she runs a very large online bookstore. What a nightmare her sidebar will be if she used any of the default skins that comes with CC5! The inability to close a section as one 'browses' down the list of categories will become a major issue for her, and her customers.

A solid, robust, opening and closing menu (one that doesn't see the category tree suddenly collapse when you move your mouse away) should be an essential element in any software program, especially if that program is a eCommerce platform. It should also be mandatory.

Further to that, because I cannot close the silly accordion menu I have attempted to replace it with another JQuery accordion menu that does offers a simple 'close' system. How did that work out for me? Glad you asked!

For some strange reason the accordion menu I popped into the skins>> js >> style.js file works smoothly (and beautifully) on the Home Page, works on Category Pages but, would you believe??? it does NOT work on Single product pages. I have tried (5) different accordion menus and they all break on the single product page. Go figure!

So now I'm back to using the default non-closing accordion menu because something as simple as changing the JQuery script has become a week long nightmare. I've had to ask developers to quote me on providing a new and improved sidebar menu, much to my 'not' wanting to touch core CubeCart code.

And seriously, for the cost of CubeCart I shouldn't have to pay someone else to fix the sidebar accordion menu so it opens and closes like a normal category tree.

Also on the subject of SideBar Menus....

Why does the box.navigation.php file and elements.navigation_tree.php have to be so complex? Why can we not have something that anyone can alter or tweak if they need to? Adding something as simple as a class="x" to a parent level link and class="y" to a sub link cannot be done through the skin's template files because of the way the entire category structure has been developed. CC4 was just as bad, too.

If you are a PHP or Smarty developer, sure, you can whack all the changes you want right in the gui.class file and make your store a whiz bang show but what about non techie individuals who just want SOME CONTROL over the way their sidebar looks and operates? What about something as simple as "highlighting" current cat?

Having two menus isn't unusual in today's ecommerce sites. I run a horizontal menu that offers Top Cats only and in my sidebar I want to show Subs only depending on which Top Parent is active. I did duplicate the box.navigation.php and elements.navigation_tree.php successfully, but again that inability to close the accordion menu does my head in. Anyway, that's my gripe on the silly sidebar!

2) Unique Home Page

I read the post by iNC Designs - thanks a bunch for that hack! - but hacking core code isn't what I really want to do, and I'm sure it wasn't what iNC wanted to do, either. But like him, I have a need for a separate and completely different home page. Like iNC I want a single column home page (no sidebars) and for all other pages I want a 2 column layout (main content + sidebar). Do you think that's remotely possible with CC5?

Without the hack iNC generously provided, no. Its not possible. Without the hack, I would have had to pay a developer to make this happen for me, and after paying for the software the cost of my new online business is rapidly escalating.

Altering the core code throws me back to V3 and V4 and upgrading nightmares! It cost money to upgrade because CC wasn't built with an internal One Click Upgrade System in mind like other programs offer by default. So every time a new release is, well, released, store owners have to upgrade their store (if the release is required). If core code is altered, most people pay someone to upgrade their store so their modifications remain intact. It's expensive to do this, particularly if you pay someone for every release, and that's a big issue with me. Constantly forking out money just to keep my store up to date.

V3 and V4 was dead simple to create a unique home page, but V5? I'm still struggling to produce a unique homepage for my store even with iNC hack. Again, frustration levels rise because I cannot implement the things I want to implement, when I want to do them.

I realize it would cost a bloody fortune to make CubeCart suit everyone's independent needs - I truly do understand this - so I suppose my gripe is about the little things that should be in CubeCart as standard behavior, and are not (hopefully will be in upcoming releases??).

Would it be so difficult to offer additional templates to make life easier for everyone? That way you can appease the masses with simple gestures like so:

1 column template

2 column template

3 column template

And a simple drop down box inside General Settings >> Layout asking the store owner to select how they want their 'home page' or 'landing page' to display.

Select the layout you want to use for your home page: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Select the layout you want to use for the rest of your store: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Click Save.

Pretty simple, huh?

You could also expand this to cover major sections because the templates are already in place.

Select the layout you want to use for your home page: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Select the layout you want to use for your category pages: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Select the layout you want to use for your single product pages: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Select the layout you want to use for the rest of your store: [drop down box] 1 column | 2 column | 3 column

Just a wish list thought....

3) Onclick open and close shopping basket

While I might whinge and whine about some things that persistently irritate me, it has been awesome to drill into core CC files and play with the system. I'm a curious little Kat to say the least! One of the much required 'hacks' I needed was to provide my shopping basket inline with my horizontal menu. Something as simple as this:

Shopping Basket: $0.00 [down arrow]

At first glance it looks basic, but this GIRL did some little magic of her own :-). I wanted my customers to click on the down arrow and bingo, with a little JQuery magic the shopping box contents displays as a 'new box' just under the horizontal menu, complete with: thumbnail Image, Product Name, Product Price, Product Qty, Product Options, Sub Total, Total, Remove Product Option AND closing mechanism.

Whew! That's a mouthful! So I've accomplished all but the remove product option. Again, another quote from a developer but its worth it. The shopping box looks awesome and works like a glory charm! And best yet? It's not in my sidebar taking up valuable real estate! [whoo hoo!]

Final Notes

In closing, I won't mention the bug tracker reports or the feature requests I asked for because Al will probably kill me. Needless to say that on the whole I love CC5. It has taken me a bit to become accustomed to the sidebar - still don't like the cramped feel the Admin sidebar provides - but I love so many other things about CC5 its hard to resist. Playing with the system has been a long winded affair - probably much like this post - but with each 'play' I'm learning more and I'm loving CC5 more.

Now all I have to do is WAIT for the next release with improvements and issue fixes, and hopefully I won't need to update this post anymore. [you're not allowed to clap Al )

Note To Al and His Team:

Can you give us an update on when the next release will be with fixes as noted in the bug tracker site? A solid date - or even an estimated ETA will prevent me from becoming an ibuprofen addict. :-)

Kate