Ecommerce Developer Content
An Expanding Accordion Menu with CSS3
A horizontal accordion-style menu is a good way to display graphical and text content in a fixed-width layout. CSS3 transitions make it possible to build just this sort of menu with nothing except a style sheet. In this article, I will describe —...
Analyzing Open-Source Ecommerce Platforms: Part 11 TomatoCart
TomatoCart is a free, PHP-based, open-source ecommerce platform that features an Ajax administration panel, very capable reporting and analytics, and a rich user experience. This review of TomatoCart is part of my ongoing series of articles inten...
CSS3 Flexbox Basics
Flexbox is a proposed and partly implemented layout model that has been optimized for web applications and modern website design. The flexbox model will also have an effect on responsive site design. According to the World Wide Web Consortium's (...
November 2011 Top 10: Our Most Popular Posts
Lists of tutorials, facts, and suggestions dominated developers' interests in November 2011. At the end of each month, Ecommerce Developer counts down the ten best-read posts that we published that month. The idea is that if you missed one of the...
11 New Funding Options for App Development
Mobile application development continues to be one of the hottest areas for investment capital. Here is a list of recent funding events in mobile application development. The events occur from September to November. Included are announcements for ...
Store User Information in PHP Sessions
PHP sessions are a means of storing user information — such as password, username, and account number — on a website's server. Sessions rely on either session cookies or propagated URLs to pass unique session IDs between the browser and the web se...
Installing, Implementing the Sphider Open-Source Search Engine
Sphider is a free and open-source PHP-based web crawler and search engine that can be used to provide a site search feature or index content from external sites. Many ecommerce platforms include good product or site search features, but there can...
20 jQuery UI Tools and Tutorials
jQuery UI a collection of user interface widgets, interactions and effects built of top of the jQuery JavaScript Library. It is the visual controls of jQuery. Here is a collection of jQuery UI tools and tutorials. Included are documents and demos...
A Checklist for OpenCart Launches
After 16 years of website building, I think I know enough to launch a site with complete confidence, knowing I have performed all the necessary configurations. Unfortunately, the reality is that despite my own self-confidence, I always miss someth...
17 Inspiring Registration Forms
Web forms are how customers communicate with businesses online, enabling purchases, access to content, and registration engagement. The questions a form asks, its layout, and its graphic design can impact success. Luke Wroblewski, author of the b...
Understanding Basic SQL Joins
MySQL joins are keywords used to create select statements that allow developers to get data from multiple tables based on some relationship. Querying a database is, perhaps, one of the most common tasks in web development, since almost every mode...
29 New WordPress Tutorials
WordPress is a highly customizable platform. But tailoring a WordPress site to fit your needs still takes work. Fortunately, there is always a steady stream of new WordPress tutorials to help. Here is a list of recent WordPress tutorials. There...
4 Considerations for Responsive Mobile Design
Mobile Internet use is on the rise. Some analysts estimate that smartphones will become the most common way of accessing the web in just the next three or four years. With so much emphasis on mobile, web designers and developers are increasingly ...
Analyzing Open-Source Ecommerce Platforms, Part 10: Zeuscart
Zeuscart is a free, open-source, PHP-based ecommerce platform available under a GNU license. The platform provides many important features including support for digital products. This review of Zeuscart is part of an ongoing series of articles me...
8 SEO Reasons to Crawl Your Clients' Sites
The first thing I do when working with a new site is set my favorite crawler on it. This gets me acquainted with all the URLs, site sections, interlinkings, forgotten pockets, scars and warts. A good crawler offers a wealth of data useful not just...
A Quick Look at Stripe Payments
Stripe is a new, full-stack payment processor that helps developers add credit card processing to a website very quickly and without worrying about most Payment Card Industry (PCI) requirements. Launched just two months ago, Stripe could be the m...
13 Resources for User Pattern Design
Designing a user interface requires the designer to examine the behavior of the visitors to a website. User patterns can reveal the needs of the visitors and present optimal solutions to common problems. Here is a list of resources for patterns i...
Hover-based Animation with CSS3
One popular trend in web design is to include CSS3-based animation that does not require JavaScript to make page elements interactive. In fact, in many cases, CSS3 animations — or transitions — will run more quickly and smoothly than similar effe...
Analyzing Open-Source Ecommerce Platforms, Part 9: jCart
Free and open source, jCart is a shopping cart based on PHP and jQuery. It can be added to an existing website with ease, enabling an Ajax-driven user experience and PayPal integration. This review of jCart is the ninth installment in a series of...
29 New Tutorials for HTML5
HTML5 is the foundation on which to build most websites and web apps. Along with that requirement comes a wide assortment of HTML5 tutorials from the developer community. Here is a list of recent HTML5 tutorials. There are several tutorials on H...