osCommerce design - pros and cons
osCommerce comes with a certain default design.
This includes the logo, CSS style sheets, buttons, information box designs, and a number of “standard” osCommerce images and icons that are displayed on different pages of the web site (such as images on the User Account page, or the header of the web site, or the Quick Search icon).
It comes with the header, left, middle, and right columns and the footer. All or almost all bits of information are displayed in the so called “information boxes” that share the same or very similar style of the title, border, and content.
Actually, osCommerce comes with a complete design and is ready to be installed and start selling products online right away. That’s certainly a benefit of this Ecommerce solution.
In the same time, default osCommerce design, being very generic and basic, may not suit each and every online store owner, and may not help selling certain product ranges. Also it has not been changed for several years now, and doesn’t look as contemporary as it was in the past. Also, there are some design elements (like standard osCommerce icons for example) that do not help customers very much in understanding what this or that page is about, but could confuse customers instead. Actually, and many web design and development companies would testify – online merchants often ask to remove those standard osCommerce icons and design elements in the first instance.
osCommerce standard design doesn’t allow for easy manipulation with information boxes or other elements, web masters or web developers should be involved in order to make changes in design or layout of the web site.
Eventually, if a web site consists only of an online store, and products are either very unique or the prices are very competitive, one can afford leaving the standard osCommerce design intact – as the sales will be coming through the web site anyway.
Otherwise it may be a good idea to consider changing design of an osCommerce online store to something that would either match design of the main web site, or accompany product range, or make browsing or purchase experience smoother for customers – or just implements the three tasks all together.