Difference between revisions of "Web Stores and Shopping Carts"

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--Marc Paré & Bob Jonkman  
 
--Marc Paré & Bob Jonkman  
  
==== Resources ====
+
* [[Web Stores and Shopping Carts/Meeting Notes 2018-07-16]]
* [https://shopkit.samnabi.com/ Shopkit by Sam Nabi]
 
* [https://www.techsoupcanada.ca/en/shopify-donation-for-lower-budget-organizations/product/advanced-shopify-plan-6-month-initial-subscr Shopify from TechSoup Canada]
 
 
 
 
 
==== Meeting Notes ====
 
===== Introductions =====
 
* Where is everyone coming from? Sam Nabi will tailor his tour to our needs.
 
** Nonprofit org wants online registrations with payment
 
** Bookseller
 
** Online donations
 
** Goods and Services
 
** Media Production (rental of cameras, lights, &c)
 
 
 
* Want to make things easier for sellers and buyers
 
 
 
 
 
===== Shopkit =====
 
* https://github.com/samnabi/shopkit
 
* Plugin for CMS called "Kirby"
 
* Sam sells code for other developers to use on their websites
 
** Doesn't want to deal with the actual credit card processing
 
** Or poor installations by those developers
 
 
 
* Self-hosted PHP-based solution
 
** Sold as a subscription service
 
** Sam would hold the code and provides the online webhosting
 
 
 
 
 
* Using Stripe and Square
 
 
 
* Sample sites:
 
** an indiegogo type site: https://coblisher.com/shop
 
** retail business: http://gourmetpassions.ca/kirby
 
 
 
 
 
* Sam provides the code, and can work it into the design of an existing web page
 
 
 
 
 
* Had an idea to pool resources for pooled shipping, delivery, advertising
 
 
 
 
 
* Sam started as a city planner, moved to a startup doing web development
 
** Then, Sam bought a retail store (Full Circle Foods)
 
** ...the inherited system is a series of linked spreadsheets :/
 
** Full Circle has 90 suppliers. Seems a lot, but many are small, local businesses
 
** Lots to be done digitizing the order system
 
 
 
 
 
* Sam is part of the Kirby CMS community
 
** Didn't have an ecommerce plugin, but there was an appetite for it
 
** Working over three years to develop Shopkit with the Kirby developers
 
** Kirby is a file-based PHP CMS (we like that)
 
*** Files are written in Markdown, still accessible if Web connection goes down
 
*** But there is a good GUI as well (good for marketers)
 
*** UI is decoupled from the data
 
 
 
 
 
* Sam gives a quick tour of a sample installation on GitHub
 
** https://github.com/samnabi/shopkit-sample-content/
 
** Kirby has multi-language support, i18n, l10n
 
** Also has categories, which Shopkit links to
 
** It's a system of API hooks, launched from the plugin to Kirby
 
** but Shopkit has all the templates for, eg. slideshows, created by Sam
 
 
 
 
 
* Purchasing flow:
 
** Select product, increase/decrease quantity, totals are updated
 
** Uses AJAX, but the site is not Javascript dependent
 
*** Jeremy Keith is Sam's inspiration, he knows about good design.
 
** There can be different shipping rules, different tax rates for different localities
 
** Add personal details (name, e-mail)
 
 
 
 
 
* Tour of the back end
 
** Resetting passwords :)
 
** Sam has tried to make it easy for front-end users
 
** Adding products, adding categories
 
*** Products have variants with different prices, options that don't affect price
 
**** Small oversight: Options don't have different SKUs, no separate inventory
 
*** Changing the use of SKUs is not dependent on the purchasing process
 
** A "Featured Product" is displayed in the sidebar
 
** Feature request by developers: "Items Remaining In Stock"
 
** Another request: Individual e-mails for restocking
 
** Shipping Rules:
 
*** Can be different for all countries, one country,
 
*** Shipping rules UI created by Sam, but as part of the plugin (even though it shows in the Kirby UI)
 
*** Tax and shipping rules can be defined by the developer, but not through the WebUI
 
*** Sam take us for a deep dive into the shipping selection code
 
 
 
 
 
* Reporting in Shopkit
 
** Done from the Shopkit backend
 
** Invoices are created by PHP into PDF files using "DOM PDF"
 
** Report invoices are generated dynamically every time, but from a static "transactions" file
 
** Added some widgets on the dashboard, eg. "Abandoned, Pending, Paid/Shipped"
 
** There are also site stats based on another Kirby plugin
 
 
 
 
 
* Payment Processing
 
** Implemented at "gateways" in Shopkit
 
*** Each gateway has a "process" and a "callback"
 
** Some processors (square) expect money values to be in cents
 
*** Performing only integer operations on cents seems to be best practice
 
** There are thousands of processors, so Sam has created an open system for processor gateways
 
** Payment processors provide an SDK for the gateway code
 
*** Each payment processor has its own API, unique for each installation.
 
**** This separates the payment processing from Shopkit itself, absolving Sam of dealing with payment issues
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* Testing
 
** No formal testing methodology
 
** Tries new code on a test site, Sam's own site
 
** Most bugs are caught by end-users (developers)
 
 
 
 
 
* Shopkit and Kirby aren't quite Free Software: Code is available for inspection, modification, but not necessarily for redistribution. But payment is on the honour system.
 
 
 
 
 
* There have been 200 issues logged in the Shopkit issue tracker; most are from Sam himself.
 
** Top question: Can I add Shopkit to an existing (Kirby) site?
 
*** Not really, Shopkit is a standalone application,
 
*** Shopkit is a good intermediate between a simple button, and a full-fledged e-commerce system.
 
* Shopkit's changes to Kirby are mostly in the "snippets", which might conflict with another Kirby installation's snippets
 
* Shopkit is a full point version behind the Kirby, always on the stable version.
 
 
 
 
 
* Order file
 
** A YAML file that builds up as order information is entereed
 
** Based on server's session ID (uniqueness?)
 
** File locking? Kirby has some file locking built in
 
** Sessions are now the same across tabs, but that may break with new Chrome tab isolation
 
 
 
 
 
'''Shopkit is a ''kit'', a standalone, turnkey application'''
 
 
 
 
 
* Kirby developer, Bastian Algere,  is known for Zootool, and making a living off Kirby
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[[Category:KWNPSA Meeting Notes]]
 
 
 
 
 
==== General Business ====
 
* SysAdminDinner -
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==== Future Topics ====
 
* See [[KWNPSA Requested Topics]]
 
* Need a topic for Monday, 20 August 2018 (Bob can't do I2P)
 
** [[Scripting Languages]] - August
 
** [[Purchasing and Procurement]] - September with Kris Braun
 
** [[Training]] - October
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
[[Category:NPSA]]
 
[[Category:NPSA]]
 
[[Category:Events]]
 
[[Category:Events]]

Latest revision as of 02:14, 19 July 2018

Web Stores and Shopping Carts

Date
Monday 16 July 2018 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Meetup Event
https://www.meetup.com/NetSquared-Kitchener-Waterloo/events/250380630/
Location
Room 1301 -- Conrad Grebel University College, 140 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo, Ontario Map
Event Announcement
Web Stores and Shopping Carts/Announcement 2018-07-16

Does your NonProfit organization sell things? Does it provide paid services? Do you need a web presence for your sales? Will you need a separate server for your web store? Or can you add a shopping cart to your existing web site? Or is it better to outsource all online commerce?

Meet our guest speaker Sam Nabi, developer of Shopkit, and let's discuss what a System Administrator needs to join a NonProfit organization to the world of web commerce.

--Marc Paré & Bob Jonkman