hazmat - 1:10 am on Sep 9, 2008 (gmt 0)

hi kgam,

I use xcart for a client, but my setup is pretty custom and we only use xcart for specific purposes in the sites. The look of our sites do not resemble an xcart site at all, and even with all that I have been liking xcart less and less over the last two years or so.

Without knowing your setup, strategy and general investment, it's hard to give accurate advice. I could give lots of advice, but you may not be willing to pay your designer huge amounts to do it. Besides which, you don't want to over-invest in the initial stages. I'd suggest an incremental strategy if you're unsure.

In saying all that, here is some general advice I can give:

I would try and strip down the xcart shopping cart as much as possible. Shopping carts like xcart (and every other one I have seen?) are designed to be a 1 size fits all approach. You don't necessarily need all the initial features, and if you don't plan on using them within the next 6 months or so, I would have your template designer remove them.

Secondly, if you plan to use xcart exclusively, definitely follow moderngamer's suggestions for url rewriting.

Good luck, and feel free to PM me or ask here if you have any other questions.