What is OpenCart?
“OpenCart is an open source PHP-based online shopping cart system. A robust e-commerce solution for Internet merchants with the ability to create their own online business and participate in e-commerce at a minimal cost.”
http://www.opencart.com/home
Personally I love OpenCart. It is very well constructed, easy to use and theming is straightforward. Oh, and of course it’s free (GNU GPL License).
System requirements: OpenCart requires MAMP to be preinstalled.
Mac OS X.
1. Download OpenCart. http://www.opencart.com/download. At the time of writing the current version is *0.7.8.
2. Place zipped file in the ‘htdocs’ folder in MAMP. The directory path should be: Mamp/htdocs/opencart_v0.7.8. Decompress with BOM Archive Helper.(ctrl+click on Mac) Once decompressed you can shorten the name to ‘opencart’.
3. Set up a MySQL database in PHP MYAdmin called opencart. The default username and password is fine for a local testing server, unless other people have access to your computer. If this is the case and security is an issue I will soon be posting a tutorial on setting up a secure (relatively, that is) testing server with MAMP.
4. Now type in the following url in your browser: http://localhost:8888/opencart/upload/install/index.php.
5. Step 1. Database. Simply enter your details.
6. Step 3. Administration. enter a username and password.
7. Step 4. Finished! Here you will be asked to delete the install directory, Set ‘config.php’ to read only (chmod 444) and Set ‘admin/config.php’ to read only (chmod 444).
You will find the ‘install’ directory in opencart/upload/. The ‘config.php’ file is also in the preceding directory. ‘Admin/config.php’ is in opencart/upload/admin/.
If you are unsure about setting file permissions click on the link for a tutorial on this: Setting file permissions.
You will have an option to go to either the Online shop (frontend) or go to Admin (backend). Whichever you choose you will notice that there is no link to Admin on either of these two screens. The URL for the Admin screen is: http://localhost:8888/opencart/upload/admin/. Bookmark this and that will save you entering the URL every time you want access.
In the near future I hope to post some tutorials on building your shop and the day to day use of OpenCart.
* Update. The current version is v1.2.8. I would avoid this version at the moment as it still needs a little work, but it is not as buggy as I first thought.
If you are interested in the OpenCart theming tutorials please register to receive the password.
Tags: E Commerce Solution, Internet Merchants, Online Cart, Online Shopping, Open Source, Shopping Cart System