Platforms & Shopping Carts
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 37: Additional CSS, and Getting Ready for RSS
Converting articles from RSS feeds into WordPress posts can populate a site with significant content for attracting site visitors. The best kind of site content is original, insightful, and helpful. It addresses specific reader needs or interests...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 36: When Users Submit
Form interaction is an important part of any ecommerce website, since it allows users to communicate to the merchant. This article is the 36th in a series created to demonstrate how to use WordPress to develop an ecommerce site that sells virtual...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 35: The Contact Form
Every ecommerce site needs a contact form, giving users an easy way to ask questions or make suggestions. Adding a contact form to a hosted version of WordPress is as simple as adding some HTML markup, writing a bit of CSS, and creating a short c...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 34: Modifying the Page Template
Building custom WordPress themes requires a bit of back and forth work as the developer advances the project on several fronts. I sometimes imagine web development projects as a field of toy soldiers that need to be individually moved. If the ent...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 33: Integrating MailChimp
While most web developers could build an application to send email newsletters and manage subscriber lists, it is often a lot easier to use an established email service provider (ESP). In this article, I will described how to connect an email new...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 32: Processing Newsletter Form Data
Capturing and storing form data is a fundamental web development skill that is often done many times on a website, so if one is going to use WordPress for ecommerce and ecommerce marketing, form data will be part of the process. This article is t...
10 Effective Magento Extensions
The popular Magento ecommerce platform has an active development community that writes and publishes many extensions. One strategy for managing an open source software platform is to build the most frequently used features into the core, and then...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 31: Composing the Newsletter Form
A well-made HTML form should do everything possible to help users quickly submit data and achieve their goals. In the case of a newsletter submission form, users want to register to get information that they believe will be helpful or interesting...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 30: Newsletter Page Template and Database
Email marketing is important to most any ecommerce site's success, so developers are wise to build in mechanisms for collecting shopper information and, eventually, marketing to those customers via email. This article is the 30th in a series crea...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 29: A Third Loop and the Footer
Displaying multiple Loops on a single WordPress page allows a developer to pick and choose the posts or categories to be displayed. This article is the 29th in a series created to demonstrate how to use WordPress to develop an ecommerce site that...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 28, Managing Thumbnails and Article Teasers
Content marketing employs articles and videos to engage site visitors in the hope of later converting those visitors into customers. The WordPress content management system makes managing content — i.e., content marketing — very easy, which is wh...
Running Multiple WordPress Sites from a Single Backend
Beginning with WordPress 3.0 in March 2010, developers can create multiple WordPress sites that run on a single installation, making it possible to operate and manage a WordPress site network. WordPress' multiple site solution, called Multisite, ...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 27: The WordPress Loop
The WordPress Loop controls how articles — i.e., "posts" — are treated on the page, defining which parts of the posts are displayed and describing the HTML markup surrounding them. This article is the 27th in a series created to demonstrate how t...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 26: Completing the Header.php File
Converting an HTML and CSS draft into a working WordPress theme takes a bit of work. But it is a fairly simple process of comparing and updating files from the draft and a working example theme. This article is the 26th in a series created to dem...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 25: Switching Style Sheets
Switching style sheets based on the time of day or the day of the year can keep a site looking fresh even when the site manager isn't paying attention to the calendar. This article is the 25th in a series created to demonstrate how to use WordPre...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 24: Theme Building Begins
One way of building WordPress themes is to create a draft of the page content in HTML5 markup and CSS and then compare that markup line-by-line with the files of an existing theme. This article is the 24th in a series created to demonstrate how t...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 23: Completing Remaining Layouts
Completing the draft style descriptions for a WordPress site is a big milestone on the path to having that site up and running on the platform. This article is the 23rd in a series created to demonstrate how to use WordPress to develop an ecommer...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 22: The Remaining Layouts
Refactoring is the art of making code more efficient without changing how the resulting website or software functions. For cascading style sheets, refactoring typically equates to consolidation. This article is the 22nd in a series created to d...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 21: Finishing the 640-pixel Wide Layout
Cascading style sheets are layers, starting with a foundation and moving through a completed design. In this WordPress ecommerce project, style declarations have begun to move more quickly as it is possible to call on work already completed. Th...
Using WordPress for Ecommerce, Part 20: The Next Size Up
Responsive website designs adapt to the size of the browser in an effort to optimize the site for each user's device, whether that device is a small smartphone or a massive HD television. This approach is good for site visitors, but requires addit...