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Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

 
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Old 02-05-2020, 02:37 PM
 
gomodern gomodern is offline
 

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Default Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

I see beautiful templates with various effects all the time, currently looking at a parallax template, but I also saw a shopify site today. The images work really well regardless of screen size/their size, there are various moving effects that work beautifully, lovely grids, not just rows of boxes, endless scrolling, fantastic blogs, & they just look like high end websites. Perfect spacing, properly responsive, excellent product information pages. Not a 'featured product' in sight.

This one has some really nice elements. https://www.templatemonster.com/website-templates/57677.html

Is it possible to set up an xcart website like that? The xcart ones I see all look the same & for my purposes arent right. Getting mouseover effects, dealing with different size product images, & having it truly responsive just doesnt seem to be happening. Shopify doesnt have half the features I want but those templates just work. I got Eveprest but its a very bare bones version. Eveprest on template monster has a ton of features. Eveprest on xcart doesnt.
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Old 02-05-2020, 04:40 PM
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Default Re: Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

Keep in mind that these template monster demo sites you see are backwards - the demo site is made to fit the template.
When you use the template on a live (or in development) site you actually have to make the template to fit the site. And this is where the whole thing just breaks. Because it was not designed specifically for your store, modules, vision, business model, etc.

Here is one for XC - http://www.templatemonsterpreview.com/demo/63509.html - I just picked one randomly. 90% of what you see that is not XC stock is hardcoded meaning when you install it on a live site it will start breaking and will need work to tweak it and make it work. Categories, menus, images, etc.

You can take any design you like and it can be integrated to work with XC store but this is all custom work and will cost you. Same applies to Shopify by the way. If it is not custom all sites look somewhat the same as they use the same templates just different colors and some elements depending on business type.
You just can't expect to find $50-$100 template that works and it is liked by everyone. These are mass produced templates. Not that they are not good though. If you want to have nice good looking and unique site you need to get an actual web designer to design the site specifically for your business and then a web developer to integrate it on your site. That's the only way you can get what you want.
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Old 02-06-2020, 04:59 AM
 
gomodern gomodern is offline
 

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Default Re: Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

Thanks for your reply. I completely understand what you are saying, and would never expect a template to work straight out of the box. Even with a lot of custom work though it seems that the smoothness of the UX and the design just never quite gets there. I'm wondering if the xcart code (xcart 5) just doesn't support some features though as the sites I see that use it don't have that slickness. It seems like every time a module in the back end is upgraded half of the new features stop working and getting real responsiveness across all platforms is a unrealistic dream.
It's a great e-commerce shopping cart but I want a great looking site too, that performs well, not image slideshows that don't quite load properly, a very basic looking blog and a struggle with mobile. I'm just wondering how much longer to push on with it, or if there's anything I can do. Or if 5.4 changes that much,
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Old 02-06-2020, 05:43 AM
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Default Re: Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

Well it is somewhere in between. XC is build with the goal that you can just install it and it will work for any type of site and any type of business. While this gives it broader audience at the same time it is its weakest feature. It has to satisfy way too many requirements for all kinds of usage.

Because of that XC codebase is huge and bloated. The worst portion of it is the css. XC devs still don't know how to properly use css and build a theme around it. Then you have the option to position elements with annotation clause from either template or class and thsi in many cases may break the css. Then you are forced to apply even more css to fix that...
It's an endless battle going back and forth given the fact that you also have 3rd party modules trying to get in between.
But it's not only that. You have XC devs including "cool" stuff and new features without the actual need for them. This contributes to more bloated code and slower load times.
The final product has way too much javascript code in it and heavily relies on it. Even simple things were js is not needed are build based on on js code.
I know what you are saying as I deal with this every day. But the only way to address these issues is to integrate a theme from scratch. Basically having custom module that dumps all stock css, js where possible, and redo all of the css. Then you will need to also address 3rd party modules and how they hook up to the system with their own resources.



It's not an easy tasks and you can imagine the time that will take doing all of this too.
So basically you are stuck with whatever XC has to offer out of the box, then modify it to fit your needs/vision as best as possible. Make sure everything that you do not use is removed or off. XC comes with tons of modules preinstalled and enabled and 2/3 of them are not needed for any store - remove them. Anything core-based that is not needed - you can turn it off with custom module. The goal is to have as less code as possible to run for every request.


There are lots of sql queries running with every page load - this can be optimized as well.
Proper server optimization and resources too are important.
Use of CDN, use of cache.



There are lots of ways however I have not seen an XC5 store yet to load pages for less than 3+ sec
Actually one store, client of mine, loads any page anywhere between 0.5 and 1.5 sec. Server is nginx and the site is very clean, stripped down to the absolute minimum needed.
The more you add, the more modules and fancy stuff the worst is going to get.


However XC5 is good and getting better. But good luck with having a nice properly coded theme any time soon.
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Old 02-06-2020, 04:10 PM
 
gomodern gomodern is offline
 

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Default Re: Using a Parallax template with xcart 5?

That is fantastically informative, thank you. It's funny you mention speed because I have noticed an issue, now I just need to think how best to approach this.
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