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2013-01-31 06:18:50
Dec 21, 2012 By Ryan Szrama
Editor's note: Drupal Commerce Kickstart 2.0 was released yesterday after much
testing and perfecting, and the article below describes part of that path in
the words of its lead developer, Ryan Szrama. Commerce Kickstart is a bundled
Drupal solution that allows a site builder to get up and running with an
ecommerce site fairly quickly, including Drupal core, Drupal Commerce and
dependent modules, and pre-configured options.
Commerce Kickstart 2.0 takes all of the core strengths of our flexible
eCommerce framework, Drupal Commerce, and makes it easier to use and quicker to
deploy for e-retailers, said Mike O'Connor, president for North America of
Commerce Guys. Leveraging an open-source technology with an engaged community
like Drupal was a huge asset when shaping the beta product into what Commerce
Kickstart is today.
With more than 2650 reported active sites just since the August beta release,
you'd be in good company giving Drupal Commerce Kickstart a try. And, now that
the world isn't going to end, what better time is there to launch that online
store you've always wanted?
One of the challenges we faced early on in Drupal Commerce s development was a
complicated installation process. Drupal Commerce was developed on Drupal 7
during its "unstable" tag cycle and depended on three other major contributed
modules Entity API, Rules, and Views that were still in development. Drupal
Commerce was also the first major contributed project to put the new entity and
fields systems in Drupal core to the test. Using these systems during an ad hoc
installation to define data types often failed.
Our solution to the difficulties developers faced was to introduce an
installation profile called Commerce Kickstart that simply installed Drupal 7,
Drupal Commerce and all its dependencies during the normal Drupal installation
process. Kickstart performed a minor amount of store configuration and demo
content creation, but it was still largely a tool for developers. It made it
simple to test a barebones installation of Drupal Commerce, which accelerated
the project's adoption by seasoned Drupal developers and companies.
However, for Drupal Commerce to succeed, we had to win over more than just
developers. After we released Drupal Commerce 1.0 at DrupalCon London 2011, it
was time to shift focus from the developer experience to the store
administrator user experience. When designing the core architecture, we had
prioritized flexibility over a robust default configuration. But as merchants
and their customers are the ultimate end users, the last thing we wanted was to
force every site builder to reinvent a usability layer to make it easier for
clients to manage their stores.
This shift in priority extended to our larger strategy. We moved from
developing the framework itself to developing a series of distributions of
Drupal that optimize the user experience and configuration for various vertical
markets. Commerce Kickstart had existed since early 2011, but it did not
qualify as a true distribution. It provided little more than the installation
of a set of modules. Out of the box, it did not look, feel or function like
what the average Web developer expects from an eCommerce application. Our
non-Drupal native partners, when confronted with the spartan Bartik theme and
minimal post-installation content, had difficulty envisioning how what they saw
could translate into a modern eCommerce website.
Starting in March 2012, we built a team to brainstorm and implement a complete
vision for Commerce Kickstart. The goal was to not only carry Drupal Commerce
to a broader audience, but to push the boundaries of what a Drupal distribution
can and should be. We improved everything from the appearance and flow of the
installer to the guided support available in the store s back end. We created a
killer front end theme and invested in usability testing and a comprehensive
user experience review with community professionals. The enthusiasm of the
Drupal community as it has tested and reviewed our beta releases has been
mind-blowing. The result is a solution that can swiftly deploy Drupal Commerce
without sacrificing the flexibility and strength of its core. Commerce
Kickstart 2.0 comes complete with simplified product catalog management, order
activity management, social media connections, advanced product search and
faceted browsing, rich product page with advanced imaging options and powerful
content management with Drupal 7.
A New Kind of Distribution
One of the oldest problems with Drupal distributions is that they are not cost
effective. It takes an incredible amount of development effort and
determination to roll out a highly polished distribution. With Commerce
Kickstart 2.0, we broke that mold by integrating with service providers to
generate revenue. Administrators can easily connect their new stores to our
recently-launched Commerce Marketplace, where we provide access to proven
enhancements for Drupal Commerce stores. Early focus has been on integrating
services that appeal to a wide variety of users, such as analytics, reporting
and payment services. Commerce Marketplace is being built to provide everything
a store needs to succeed, regardless of the store type or the vertical markets
served by subsequent distributions of Drupal Commerce.
We will continue to improve Commerce Kickstart even as Drupal itself evolves
and moves into its next phase. There are many opportunities to integrate new
services into Marketplace; we are even planning our own set of cloud services
and tools to simplify the launch and maintenance of Drupal Commerce sites. As
we bring true flexibility and simplicity closer together, we look forward to
the day that Drupal is recognized as the number one open-source eCommerce
platform in the world.
______________________
Ryan Szrama is the VP of Community Development for Commerce Guys. He joined
Commerce Guys in 2009 and became the project lead for Drupal Commerce an
open-source eCommerce framework enabling flexible, high-powered commerce sites
based on Drupal.