ramshackles
Well-known member
A slightly different and relatively geeky post coming up....
Recently, I started writing my own shop website. I have been frustrated at the offerings of both my current platform (shopify) and other open source platforms for a while, but it is only since changing jobs (I now work from home) and completing my electronics course that I have had time to contemplate this.
I have now got a very early 'alpha' version of what my new site will look like up and running:
https://ramshackleaudio.herokuapp.com/
There is still a lot of work to do, obviously in terms of content, but also in functionality and testing (it is not yet very usable on mobile). Which is why I haven't transferred my domain and kept the checkout in test mode for now!
I have been writing this shop without any pre-baked e-commerce solution, preferring instead to write my own solution on top of the Wagtail CMS framework.
This is a CMS framework for Python which is itself built on top of the python web framework, 'Django', however it doesnt feature its' own e-commerce solution.
So why didn't I just get an existing, open source solution for a shop? There are a few reasons:
- The 'developer first' approach of wagtail gives you complete control over the front-end of your website; in fact it insists on you providing your own HTML templates. I was annoyed at having limited ability to change every last detail of the layout and appearance. It also means I can whip out react.js for more dynamic rendering.
- Since it is built using django (and has a more 'lightweight' feel than other django CMS or e-commerce solutions), if I need something that doesnt fit in a CMS (such as shopping basket and checkout functionality), I can just write said functionality from scratch using standard django development practices.
- The ability to (potentially) be more than just a shop. I have long toyed with the idea of a DIY marketplace (think an 'etsy' specifically for DIY audio vendors) but I dont know if interest would be enough. I also have ideas for other potentially useful apps which will eventually see the light of day on the website.
The final problem I have had with commerical shop solutions is the relatively high cost for low volume vendors. You typically have a regular monthly fee to pay, plus a percentage of all sales (and you might even have a separate percentage to pay to the payment gateway, e.g. paypal). A low volume shop often doesnt need all the 'bling' that such a package offers (which again, makes me think about a DIY marketplace website; subscription fees could be comparatively very cheap for vendors).
Anyway, I hope to get my own shop website fully functional within the next couple of weeks and to eventually open source the 'wagtail shop' code I created in the process.
Recently, I started writing my own shop website. I have been frustrated at the offerings of both my current platform (shopify) and other open source platforms for a while, but it is only since changing jobs (I now work from home) and completing my electronics course that I have had time to contemplate this.
I have now got a very early 'alpha' version of what my new site will look like up and running:
https://ramshackleaudio.herokuapp.com/
There is still a lot of work to do, obviously in terms of content, but also in functionality and testing (it is not yet very usable on mobile). Which is why I haven't transferred my domain and kept the checkout in test mode for now!
I have been writing this shop without any pre-baked e-commerce solution, preferring instead to write my own solution on top of the Wagtail CMS framework.
This is a CMS framework for Python which is itself built on top of the python web framework, 'Django', however it doesnt feature its' own e-commerce solution.
So why didn't I just get an existing, open source solution for a shop? There are a few reasons:
- The 'developer first' approach of wagtail gives you complete control over the front-end of your website; in fact it insists on you providing your own HTML templates. I was annoyed at having limited ability to change every last detail of the layout and appearance. It also means I can whip out react.js for more dynamic rendering.
- Since it is built using django (and has a more 'lightweight' feel than other django CMS or e-commerce solutions), if I need something that doesnt fit in a CMS (such as shopping basket and checkout functionality), I can just write said functionality from scratch using standard django development practices.
- The ability to (potentially) be more than just a shop. I have long toyed with the idea of a DIY marketplace (think an 'etsy' specifically for DIY audio vendors) but I dont know if interest would be enough. I also have ideas for other potentially useful apps which will eventually see the light of day on the website.
The final problem I have had with commerical shop solutions is the relatively high cost for low volume vendors. You typically have a regular monthly fee to pay, plus a percentage of all sales (and you might even have a separate percentage to pay to the payment gateway, e.g. paypal). A low volume shop often doesnt need all the 'bling' that such a package offers (which again, makes me think about a DIY marketplace website; subscription fees could be comparatively very cheap for vendors).
Anyway, I hope to get my own shop website fully functional within the next couple of weeks and to eventually open source the 'wagtail shop' code I created in the process.
