How to fix xhtml and css validation errors in Virtuemart

In case you don’t already know, Virtuemart is an online shopping cart extension for Joomla! and is often listed as one of the most popular Joomla! extensions available.

Last week I received a private message on our forum from one of our members saying that his Virtuemart store was failing css validation and asked whether i would take a look to see if the issue was related to the template, or his Virtuemart setup.

After taking a look at the validation error and the xhtml output, it was easy to spot what was causing the problem. (more…)

Tags: css, ecommerce, joomla 1.5, validation, virtuemart

Smooth the way for buyers

I am still amazed at the number of sites that make it difficult (some really, really difficult) for you to buy something from them.

Are your buyers falling at the first hurdle?

If so, the answer’s simple. Remove the hurdle! There are all sorts of barriers to buying, outside of price and availability. Here are a few that you can easily fix on your site: (more…)

Tags: Copywriting, ecommerce, useful tips

Joomla and Magento. To integrate or not.

There’s been a lot of talk of the new ecommerce platform, Magento. I must say, it’s one sexy platform. Without doubt, Magento will be the leader in open source commerce, if it isn’t already. Packaged with all the bells and whistles, this SEO-ready platform has released it’s first stable version with force.

Magento already has a substantial following. Without doubt, we’ll start seeing the Magento template shops start popping onto the seen. Many Magento-Junkies come from a Joomla-based background and seem eager to get their hands on the feature rich, best-of-breed ecommerce platform. Most, if not all, have one thing in mind: to develop, hack, extend, modify and integrate. (more…)

Tags: ecommerce, Extensions, Joomla, Magento, seo

Production release of Magento officially launched!

I am absolutely thrilled to say that Magento production release is officially available for download!!! Whoopeeee!!! I have been waiting for this day for a long time, now we just need to find some excuse to use it for something ;0)

In case you don’t already know, Magento is an enterprise open source ecommerce platform. I have used many different ecommerce systems over the years and i can safely say that there is absolutely nothing that i have ever tested that comes remotely close to this. I think one of the biggest differences with Magento is that, instead of being a community project, it is actually being developed by a company called Varien, that specializes in ecommerce. Everything that they have done since day one has been absolutely spot on. It is easily apparent that they have done some serious planning and have a very clear 5 (and possibly longer) action plan. (more…)

Tags: ecommerce, Magento

Paypal and 2Checkout make friends

We’ve had loads of questions lately about the changes to the payment methods we are accepting. Since our new offices are back home in Sunny Cape Town, South Africa, our only option at this stage is 2Checkout as Paypal has not managed to crack open our Forex laws, which is why we have had to disable Paypal as a payment option in the checkout.

That being said, we are glad to announce that 2Checkout now offers the ability to pay with your Paypal account, giving us the best of both worlds!

More information about this can be found on the 2Checkout website: http://www.2checkout.com/community/?p=408

So.. if you prefer using Paypal, then when checking out, click on Pay Now with 2Checkout and once you are taken to their secure payment site, you will now see the option to pay with Paypal.

Tags: ecommerce