Mark Royko + Associates

Having reviewed dozens of different shopping carts, installing at least three different systems, and even having written a complete shopping cart from scratch, I can tell you that hands down, shopping carts are the most challenging options for site engineers, managers and owners. Sure, in the grand scope of things, there are much harder things to install on a website. But just in terms of day-to-day complexity, ecommerce is the winner. From inventory control to SEO, to payment gateways and customer management, nothing else online offers as many details to manage day after day after day.

That's why the shopping cart you choose to install is so important. There are dozens of them out there, and it's amazing how functionally limited some of them are.  Many have terrible user interfaces, others have gigantic learning curves. Some are easy to use, but forget about some critical detail--say, inventory control or payment gateway integration.

That's why I'm so excited that Drupal has Ubercart, a system that's awfully close to being perfect, and in my mind, the single best open-source option for anyone looking for ecommerce on their web site.

Ubercart is a pleasure to install: Pop it into Drupal like any other module, and pretty soon you've unlocked a whole universe of ecommerce functionality. Its add-ons (which operate with the same installation architecture that other Drupal modules use) extend Ubercart dramatically, from reporting tools to inventory control. Considering the horse power available through the base package and its extentions, I always wonder why everyone in the world isn't selling something online through their own store. (Yes, you can use it to create client subscriptions, gated content and phsyical products alike.)

In January, 2009, I posted a review on Drupal Modules about Ubercart. I've since installed it on three other sites, and my experience with it remains the same. Here's that initial review--it contained a couple of really minor rough spots that have since been addressed:

"Shopping carts are remarkably difficult to get right, but Ubercart does a fantastic job of providing a simple-to-administer interface with a really full-featured cart. I love Ubercart.

Like any cart, UC has a learning curve, and takes a little while to set up. Once that's done, though, you're ready to roll. It is exceptionally smooth.

I've been using it on D6, and there were a couple of points of confusion while setting it up: First, many of the modules listed as dependencies are not truly required in the D6 version. (Some of the required modules listed aren't ready for D6--but go ahead, do the install. It will work.) Note: This was really more of a documentation issue than anything else, and it's since been cleared up...

Next, shopping carts are big projects, and while UC for D6 is very far along, you may encounter a couple of rough spots. With that in mind, remember that you may find more refined code in the dev version. (For example, I encountered a critical-level Javascript bug in the approved release that was corrected in the 'Bazaar' version. This was a really small coding issue that had big consequences for using the cart in IE7. The Bazaar version fixed it right up, though, and the update installed painlessly.) If you don't know what 'bazaar' is, read the downloads page carefully for the link.

Another example: In the administration interface, there is a one-time procedure that you need to run to get the images working. A quick warning: If you use DHTML menus, the location of that set up feature won't be especially obvious. This is another really minor bug that may have been corrected by now, but if you are confused about finding something, try turning off DHTML menus. (If applicable.) Again: Another example of something that was fixed--probably within a day or two after I wrote that review.

In my estimation, overcoming these minor issues was well worth the effort, though. Ubercart is a great module: far better than a lot of commercial carts I've seen. One last thing: Their online support is friendly, helpful and quick to respond."