In moving to WordPress, I had to abandon the very cool file management plugin that was available on Geeklog. Searching the WordPress Codex didn’t return any file management tools that looked suitable for what I wanted, so I decided to go the shopping cart route. With the problems I’ve had with spammers using the form handler for less than desirable purposes, I figured having users submit an email address before downloading might be a bit of a deterrent. I have now spent the last two days configuring, installing and customizing the various modules. There are more things I want to do, but I am at a good launching point for now.

There were a few choices in Open Source carts, namely osCommerce and Zen Cart. I’ve worked with osCommerce before and new its abilities. However, I opted to go with Zen Cart because the default template more closely matched my site. I know - what a way to pick a script, eh? Well, with the modules and payment stuff, I wanted to do as little as possible on the layout.

I’ll be adding service plans over there soon. That will allow current and potential clients to pre-purchase web programming services through the cart. Not sure how long before that goes up, but I’ll blog when it does.

Tags: Internet