--- (Edited on 11/20/2011 9:49 am [GMT-0600] by zylopfa) ---

That said, the backend features, order management and plugins of the other systems are most probably better. These features are not important if you have a low number of orders. Not because of scalability but because of managability of orders, things like order splitting, relating your orders to your CRM etc will make a difference for stores with a large number of orders.

So webgui is good for small shops that already have WebGUI or want a CMS. WebGUI is good for stores that need special designs, think fasion, jewelry etc.

WebGUI is acceptable for any low volume store.

This is the very reason that I decided to keep our commerce functionality in osCommerce when I redesigned the Sofawolf Press website: processing orders, especially shipping, is definitely not optimal in WebGUI.

My two main options when creating the new site were to move completely into WebGUI, adding the backend functionality we needed, or create a hybrid that uses WebGUI for content management and other tools, but keep the commerce functionality in osCommerce. Because WG8 was just starting development at the time, I decided not to put effort into learning how to develop for WG7's admin interface, and instead figured out how to wrap WebGUI around osCommerce. The result is functional, but definitely not ideal for the long term.

My hope is that with the beta release of WG8 I can learn how to add to the default admin interfaces and provide functionality such as fulfillment (shipping) plugins and inventory monitoring/management. If I can get WebGUI up to speed with our needs, I'd happily migrate away from osCommerce.

--- (Edited on 2011-12-01 11:11 am [GMT-0600] by Trex) ---

There are no changes to the Shop Admin, nor the main Admin interfaces between 7 and 8.  One of the goals was backwards compatility so that we could begin to migrate to the new admin interface.

So, if you want to write the Shop API for better order fulfillment and shipping and get them into the core (hint, RFEs and thorough tests) then the migration to the new admin interface would eventually happen.

I guess I'm confused then about the nature and extent of the WG8 admin interface development. I thought that it was going to be changed extensively to make more use of AJAX, reduce the number of page reloads, make it behave more like a desktop app, etc. I thought that with WG8, the admin console was going to be more "pluggable" and therefore easier to extend with unique functionality (that may or may not make it back into the core API).

Is there anywhere I can go to learn about what was and was not changed in the admin interface between WG7 and WG8?

--- (Edited on 2011-12-02 4:49 pm [GMT-0600] by Trex) ---