VirtueMart Forum

VirtueMart 2 + 3 + 4 => General Questions => Topic started by: DCS on April 20, 2017, 18:54:45 PM

Title: VM as a Dealership; also...Responsive...
Post by: DCS on April 20, 2017, 18:54:45 PM
Hello!  I am a new VM person. 

I have never used VM, but last night I spent about 3 hrs exploring VM and a couple of other options for a new online store. 
This new store will be an addition to an existing T3 Framework site that was built on the t3_bs3_blank template. 

Today, I briefly searched for clues about how VM would integrate into a preexisting responsive site.

I found nothing. 

No joke.  Nothing. 

I crawled this forum and 1 or 2 Joomla forums, etc.

It's occurring to me that vast numbers of "How to do X in Virtuemart" posts on this forum go unanswered, suggesting that actual discussion of how to use the extension is much less common than posts advertising $100 VM themes necessary to make VM do anything. 

I read the VM site.  I read the VM FAQ here.  I searched various terms.  I read various reviews.  I'm smarter than the average wheelbarrow, and unfortunately, I have to tell everyone here that after several hours of exploring VM, I don't know anything about it.  I can't begin to make a reasonable decision about whether to try this open source extension on a stable T3 site.

On google, one of my searches was "How to make Virtuemart responsive".  That search returns many links to $ themes, but also a very promising forum link which then returned "The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you.".

Ahhhh - I think I'm starting to understand!  VM was written by a dark sith, and the introductory maze of questions-without-answer accompanied by millions of posts advertising $ themes is actually an intricately woven trap designed to suck me gently into a massive dealership of premium themes and plugins and toothbrushes that are all necessary install "free open source" VM so that it can then suck life and hope from my site and my children.

Is that how VM works? 

If so, I think you guys need to be more transparent and honest. 

The VM page and this forum seem to be misleading.  The VM presence on the joomla extension directory seems full of promise, which is why I decided to check it out.  But it's misleading, isn't it? 

Here I am today, mulling the fact that in a few short hours, I gained a nearly comprehensive understanding of how J2Store and HikaShop work, and zero knowledge of how VM works.  WTF?!

Here are my suggestions for your sith:

All of your introductory content should contain informational elements and be more transparent, ie:

1 - "Hi, welcome to VM, if you have or want a responsive or mobile-first website and you want to consider VM, here is exactly what you need to know: 
"A VM shop will instantly be responsive if you wink at it"; or,
"A VM shop can be made responsive only by advanced php or css capabilities"; or,
"A VM shop can be responsive only if you like rabbits."
Whatever the hell it is, you should just tell people up front instead of trying to trap them with obfuscation.

2 - If VM is just a dealership vehicle designed to get people to buy themes, you should say so up front:  "Hi, welcome to VM, it won't do a f***ing thing until you spend at least $200 on themes or plugins."  Something like that. 

3 - etc, etc

So look, I still don't understand why VM exists, or how it works, or anything like that.  Like honestly, what is VM?  Is there a link somewhere written by an honest person that tells new users how to use the extension and what to expect? 

I'll wrap up today with a simple question: 

I have a stable T3 site.  The site uses a carousel extension called DJImageSlider.  To get a image carousel, you just install the extension, slap a couple of photos in it, and presto, the carousel works, AND, IT IS RESPONSIVE because it is integrated into a responsive site. 

Does VM work that way too? If you install VM into a fully responsive and operational T3 site that is running the latest joomla and T3 versions, will VM function responsively within the responsive template, or will it sit like a giant turd waiting for money, voodoo, rabbits, money, a sith lord, money, and the severed ears of my children? 

I'm not joking.  I just need to know how this thing works, and i can't find that information anywhere.   

Thanks!   
Title: Re: VM as a Dealership; also...Responsive...
Post by: Studio 42 on April 21, 2017, 14:38:37 PM
Hi,
Simply write your own responsive rules or do an override and add Bootstrap 3 markup.
See my shop here the category page : http://shop.st42.fr/en/products.
i converted all using bootstrap 3. See grid here : https://getbootstrap.com/examples/grid/
See how to do Joomla overrides https://docs.joomla.org/How_to_override_the_output_from_the_Joomla!_core
And all this is totally free.

And if you use free template, do not be wondered he don't includes overrides, this have nothing to do with Virtuemart most have no override for K2, other extensions or any other shop system for Joomla.
regards,
Patrick
Title: Re: VM as a Dealership; also...Responsive...
Post by: GJC Web Design on April 21, 2017, 23:25:06 PM
Well.. with an attitude like that I really wonder if its worth answering.. but...

the obvious solution is either make the effort to look at the demo and study its responsiveness and media queries css

or even simpler .. make a joomla install, add your template and install VM and try...

After that you can sit down and contribute the documentation that you say is so missing ...

Where do you see all these $100 that soon grew to $200  "themes" and in what conspiratorial way are they connected to this open source project?

No one on this forum or in this project gets paid to do anything - it is entirely up to you what you spend  - developers develop paid for extensions for  non core requirements
People offer their paid expertise for those that want it.. that's it..

Afraid your nefarious intrigues don't exist

Title: Re: VM as a Dealership; also...Responsive...
Post by: DCS on April 22, 2017, 00:42:16 AM
Thanks to both.  I'm glad I took the time to lay all that down.  I doubt otherwise I'd have received a response.  There are so many unanswered questions here. 

I think I may try VM on a blanK T3 this evening.  Following st42's lead, I found a youtube channel that may help - joomlaxtc. 

Quote from: GJC Web Design on April 21, 2017, 23:25:06 PM
Where do you see all these $100 that soon grew to $200  "themes" and in what conspiratorial way are they connected to this open source project?

Anywhere you look for a VM how-to, you will find more links to paid components or 5yr old threads than anything else.  Current info on how to implement VM may seem prevalent to you, but to this newcomer, it's like hensteeth.  Conspiratorial?  I was just having fun, and I happen to be someone who types really fast.  The word conspiratorial came out of your mouth, not mine.  :-)

Quote from: GJC Web Design on April 21, 2017, 23:25:06 PM
No one on this forum or in this project gets paid to do anything - it is entirely up to you what you spend  - developers develop paid for extensions for  non core requirements
Comparison: no one on joomla or T3 framework gets paid, but a novice like me can easily find adequate documentation and tutes to empower me to build really nice sites. 

There are many paid extensions for joomla, but there are also many free ones, and a search for a how-to usually returns more useful instructive linkes than ads for paid extensions. 

Isn't this exactly the opposite of the VM paradigm? 

VM is an open source extension for an open source CMS.  VM is swarming with "non open source" bees in a cloud so thick you can't see the flower. 

My 2 cents. 
Title: Re: VM as a Dealership; also...Responsive...
Post by: DCS on April 22, 2017, 01:07:40 AM
Quote from: Studio 42 on April 21, 2017, 14:38:37 PM
Simply write your own responsive rules or do an override and add Bootstrap 3 markup.
See my shop here the category page : http://shop.st42.fr/en/products.
i converted all using bootstrap 3. See grid here : https://getbootstrap.com/examples/grid/
See how to do Joomla overrides https://docs.joomla.org/How_to_override_the_output_from_the_Joomla!_core
And all this is totally free.

And if you use free template, do not be wondered he don't includes overrides, this have nothing to do with Virtuemart most have no override for K2, other extensions or any other shop system for Joomla.
regards,
Patrick

I'll say thanks again for your reply Patrick.  It's actually what led me to a youtube vid that suggests the override process can be less than fearful.  However, I thought about things for a minute, and it occurs to me that your encouragements may be misleading for less-technically capable joomla users (like me).  For the sake of future novice readers, here's a quote from the T3 folks about making 3rd party extensions responsive:
*******************
T3 Framework is a responsive framework template, that means all the templates developed with T3 Framework are responsive at core.

So how T3 does with Third party extensions like K2, Virtuemart ... in term of responsive ?

It does not intervene the 3rd extensions, hence if the 3rd extensions are not responsive by itself, then it's a huge chance they won't be responsive when you install in any of the templates developed with T3 Framework. Now it's up to you to consider if you want them in your site or not. If you still decide to go with it, you probably have to do the customization to make it responsive, and it sure does take a lot of time and effort. Please be wise here.
*******************
http://www.t3-framework.org/documentation/bs3-faqs.html (http://www.t3-framework.org/documentation/bs3-faqs.html)
*******************

General comments:

I like T3 and the t3_bs3_blank.  I learned the relatively straightforward process of LESS customization in "local" folder, and I create responsive sites with T3 that work reliably cross-platform and load really fast.  I know that some folks consider this approach to site-building to be sub-optimal due to all the "overhead", but I couldn't begin to create the same sites without the framework, so IMO, T3 and similar tools open up a world of capabilities for novice developers that otherwise would not exist.  As far as overhead, if my site loads faster than most, I guess I don't feel the weight.

I'm going to try VM.  I don't anticipate seamless simplicity.  We'll see how it goes. 

Thanks again. 

DS