what should i learn in order to develop my own e-commerce website?

Question

hi all,
I have computer skills (c, java, a little html) but not too much on the internet aspect. i want to know what should i learn in order to be able to create a landing page + an e-commerce site that look Professional. for example i heard about dreamweaver which suppose to be a kind of shortcut to this stuff. is it recommended?? are there any other tools which are advisable to learn? BTW the learning time aspect also play critical role here. thanks everybody...

Answer 1

Just use Zen Cart, which is free and has extensive community support.



http://www.zen-cart.com

Answer 2

If you are not planning on writing the cart, which I would not advise you not to, then HTML, PHP CSS and a MySql database would take care of it. You could also use some javascript. I have developed several different e-commerce sites, once you understand the fundamentals of adding the products to the shopping cart, the process is rather easy. (providing you know a little HTML... My first e-commerce sites years ago were strictly HTML.) Writing a CMS for the back-end is a little more difficult, but again once you setup the database(s), adding editing and deleting the products is not that hard. I designed all my sites in notepad+, so really no other software other than the cart is needed. If you are planning on designing the cart, there are a lot of things that you might never think of that you have to keep in mind when starting.... pci compliance when storing credit cards, security issues of personal information, SSL folders, interfacing with credit card processors, protecting your server from hackers, etc. It was too much work for me, so I just used and existing cart designed by a third party designer. If you have any other questions, just let me know. Best wishes.

Answer 3

You basically have two major options. The first being PHP and the second being ASP.NET. Because you have a programming background I would go for ASP.NET as the code part of the whole "application" is written in VB or C#. Kepp away from the likes of dream weaver for the moment as they do to much for you.



Not matter which one you choose a solid understanding of HTML and CSS is a must as websites are still made with this stuff. Search AMAZON for a book called HTML Dog as this will teach you how to make websites properly using CSS and HTML.