I was considering having complete overall to our site, so I am now beginning to consider either doing it on the latest version of xcart, as well as other commerce platforms...
In reviewing the demo, I was pleasesently surprised by some of the nice features, however I was kind of taken back by some of the things which have been standard for 5+ years on most high end sites that it doesnt have or implemented horrifically.
This is stuff I was shocked and apalled at, I just want to mention these things to make sure that I am not mistaken:
1. The gd-resize of the largest image you upload, so that it displys the re-sized version on all the product pages As well as a specified size for the product details page. This way you dont have to upload this seperately.
Further best practice would be --- after the first time it is created a physical copy is automatically saved and cached.
2. The product detail images, thumbnails are using the browser to re-size the image previews???? I was quite taken back by this.
for ex:
http://xcart-demo.qtmsoft.com/demo/Three-Stone-Princess-Cut-Diamond-Ring.html
If you view the images under the large image
it is loading a -> 400px в 400px (scaled to 52px в 52px)
The same thing when viewing thses supposed small icons in the popup.
This not only creats extra load time, but also jagged images.
These images should automatically be created off the large image you upload using resize functio, and then saved and cached after the first view by user.
3. You can only upload 1 image for a varient?
For ex if i have set of 5 images for a red color, when i switch to the blue it should switch out all the images to what ever images i have for blue (which could be many). If you view any high end site, this is standard practice.
Ok here is stuff which I guess is somewhat understandable that its not there, but was still kind of surprised:
4. a currency tab, so it allows users to switch to different currency's on the site.
5. A quick view on the product listings page