You have to try to build software, and install software, and use a lot of software, before you start to appreciate just how much goes into good design.

For a few years, I have been helping clients set up online shopping carts. I’ve looked at OS Commerce, Zen Cart, WP Ecommerce, and dozens and dozens of other ones. Zen Cart was okay, compared to some.

But CS Cart is much better than anything else I have seen. The new 2.0 version is one of the nicest pieces of software I have worked with.

Front-end interface

Out of the box, the front-end is really beautiful. It is clean and functional, with lots of white space.

This is contrary to most other default shopping cart templates, which look very boxy, clunky, and cumbersome. It’s a modern, practical layout choice: fixed-with centered, and CSS-based, with an active width of 962px. They have obviously thought about this a lot.

Also, there is a lot of Ajax, to make the interface feel easy to use and fast.

The color palette is versatile, modern, and very pleasing. Even out of the box, this is a cart that people would actually want to buy from. This is a really nice feature–maybe you’re a small business that doesn’t want to spend the money right now on a custom design. It’s a very nice thing that, out of the box, CS Cart would give you something you can work with, and add to later, as more resources become available.

CS Cart front end, out of the box

Drilling down to the product display level, the interface continues to be friendly, appealing and extremely usable.

Product Detail

It works like you’d expect it to, and want it to. (But not like it does in a lot of older, “Web 1.0″ carts!).

Click on any of the smaller photos, and they instantly replace the main image–rather than opening up some other window, or making some tired new HTTP request.

Click View Larger Image, and a light box appears (without lots of boring wait), over the page, displaying the larger image. And, that lightbox has thumbnails for all the smaller images, and if you click on these, they–again, seemlessly–replace the other image. I have to say, this implementation of a light box display is actually nicer than a lot of light boxes in fancy websites I have seen.

The other tabs, such as Features and Reviews, pop up instantly, via DHTML, rather than making you wait.

Back-end interface

Back-End Interface

The back-end control panel for CS Cart is gorgeous as well. It is neatly divided into large, easy-to-read sections with bold, easy-to-read tabs. As I have found throughout the design of CS Cart, a designer has really been at work here.

Clicking on any of the large tabs–Orders, Catalog, Users, etc.–instantly brings up a list of sub-links, that clearly spell out the various sub-areas.

Again, the actual panel areas themselves are clearly marked, simple, and easy to read. While a graphic designer has clearly been at work, a user interface designer has also clearly been at work. And, taken the time to get things right. (Simplicity is harder to get right!)

I consider it a major, major benefit, that the cart I help my client set up is very easy to use. They’ll have to use it, and I really want them to feel confident and comfortable. This cart gives me lots of confidence about that.

Features

While the back-end is very beautifully designed, and has a feeling of simplicity, CS Cart also has really all the features I have been able to think of, that a cart should have. Once again, to be able to design an interface that has all the features you’d need, but also is simple and easy to use, is no small feat! It’s accomplished by lots of careful thinking about where things should go, how they should work, and  how they should work with all the other things.

Some of the features that stood out to me, as might-not-haves, that CS Cart does have, include:

• Drop ship handling
• Comments and reviews
• Coupons
• A testimonial manager
• Excellent management for “static” or “CMS” pages for the rest of the content of the site
• Good WYSIWYG editing
• Built-in affiliate programs
• In-browser upgrades

The list goes on.

Code

On the coding end, CS Cart is beautifully designed and modularized PHP. The design elements are neatly broken up to make design modifications easier. The layout is fully CSS-based. There is even a Customization Mode that allows you to view the site with the ability to make template changes inline, from the site.

There is a lot to say here–a whole series of posts, really. But suffice to say, they have really thought this through, as well. And, e-commerce is complicated. To get it all right is a lot of work. To see how much attention and time has gone into this one makes me happy.

Support

I’ve set up CS Cart for a few clients, and their Helpdesk ticketing system works really nicely. I’ve logged several support tickets, from the obvious, to the very complicated. In each case, they’ve responded quickly, and, hontestly–they really knew what they were talking about! They’ve been polite, heplful, and smart. They went right in and fixed what was wrong, and in every case, it was something I just hadn’t quite figured out, and not a problem with their code.

Summing it up, I really wanted to write a long post about CS Cart, because I appreciate how much care has been put into this software. It is one of the nicest-designed web apps I have seen, and, as I said, e-commerce is not easy! I want to see them do well!

You can find CS Cart software at http://www.cs-cart.com.

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