Skins and marketplace

[JackP]

I was looking at changing skins and I started by looking in the looking in the marketplace.  I find there are just not that many.  There were a couple that I liked though.  I clicked the Demo.  One of them gives a 404 error and the other just gives a blank screen.  I'm quite disappointed.   I've been using Cube Cart for about a year.  It has had a lot of short comings that I have tried to address as I have had time.  I started making a list of things I really wanted to fix about a month ago so that I could restart marketing in January.  However, as I look around, I'm beginning to question whether I should continue to use Cube Cart. I generally like it but it seems like it has such a small user base and there is very little 3rd party support.  Is this project really viable? I think Al has done a good job and certainly Bsmithers and a select few others are super responsive in the community forums but this is few members for a community.

[Dirty Butter]

I am far from a knowledgeable CC user, but for the most part I was able to modify Foundation to do what I wanted. Most of the cosmetic changes were things I figured out how to do myself. Most of the core code that I wanted modified were accomplished with help on this forum. @bsmither is worth his weight in gold on this forum! His presence here on a regular basis makes up for the relatively small number of frequent contributors.

Good luck with your endeavors, no matter what course you end up taking!

Merry Christmas!

[bsmither]

For reasons I am not privy, CubeCart,Ltd shows the demonstration of skins within an <iframe>. Outside the <iframe> there is a CubeCart header bar at the top of the page (at least, what I am looking at, "Urban Combo").

CubeCart's core code (/index.php) sends a header: 'X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN' // do not allow being loaded into an iframe

So the flaw is in Cubecart,Ltd trying to manage/frame the presentation of other people's skins located elsewhere, knowing that CubeCart itself tells the browser to not let that happen.

CubeCart,Ltd knows about the MarketPlace Demo situation. I do not know if, when, or how they will fix this. It could be that the MarketPlace application is such that CubeCart,Ltd themselves would need to get publisher support to fix.

A way around it would be to insist skin merchants to have their demos running on a specialized CubeCart codebase - much like CubeCart,Ltd's own demo of CubeCart.

I see two options -- if I really want to see the skin in action: have the browser show the source HTML to discover the URL of the framed site, or allow the browser to load frames from offsite locations.

 

[havenswift-hosting]

Currently 26 skins in the marketplace although I also agree that it isn't a lot by the standards of some packages and many of them are not that great and quite a few aren't even maintained (check when many of them were last updated !).  You don't say which skins you are having problems with the demo although there are known issues with the "demo" button - for example it doesn't work with our Retail Therapy skin but our skins can be seen on our own demo site at https://www.cubecart-demo.co.uk

[JackP]

I agree @bsmither has been extremely helpful.  I can do development myself.   But it takes time; especially since Cube Cart is not documented in the code it all.  Anytime I want to change something or add a feature I have to literally walk through the code and there are parts that I still do not understand what is really going on.   I can also pay people to do custom development if needed.   But it might be better to have a solution that has a critical mass of users and lots of extensions rather than continuing to rely on too few key people.  I have to make a living doing this and my website has not been carrying enough of the load - I'm relying too much on external sites like Amazon, Ebay and Reverb.  That has to change for me and the first step is to make sure my website is up user friendly, search friendly, and works well before I commence marketing tests.