08-04-2006, 06:39 AM
HTTP is stateless and anonymous. Why should you care? Because when a customer shops your store, whether eBay or ZenCart, each click within the site carries a price tag. The client has to tell the server, basically, "Hi. I'm Joe Blow. I'd like to see that lovely dress on the other page." This creates a time lag while the server becomes re-acquainted with Joe Blow and decides if he is making a valid request. After that, it completely forgets all about him.
This is the overwhelmingly dominant model right now, but you can visit eBay for a concrete example.
www.ebay.com
The future is to do it through Web Applications. These more closely resemble the typical computer application most everybody is familiar with. There may be a longer download time when the customer visits your store, but there is almost no price for mouse-clicking once they're inside. After the initial visit, some stuff is stored on your computer so the next visit will be even more pleasant. This is part of the excitement about AJAX and Flash. People who claim to "hate" Flash are talking about specific animation applications, and really don't hate Flash in general.
Abercrombie & Fitch is a perfect example of the much more intense competition you and your little ZenCart or whatever cart store will be facing. Enjoy!
www.abercrombie.com
Or to sneak you straight inside:
http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/st...reId=10051&catalogId=10901&parentCategoryId=12203&childCatgroupId=12203&categoryId=12270&productId=1&langId=-1
This is the overwhelmingly dominant model right now, but you can visit eBay for a concrete example.
www.ebay.com
The future is to do it through Web Applications. These more closely resemble the typical computer application most everybody is familiar with. There may be a longer download time when the customer visits your store, but there is almost no price for mouse-clicking once they're inside. After the initial visit, some stuff is stored on your computer so the next visit will be even more pleasant. This is part of the excitement about AJAX and Flash. People who claim to "hate" Flash are talking about specific animation applications, and really don't hate Flash in general.
Abercrombie & Fitch is a perfect example of the much more intense competition you and your little ZenCart or whatever cart store will be facing. Enjoy!
www.abercrombie.com
Or to sneak you straight inside:
http://www.abercrombie.com/webapp/wcs/st...reId=10051&catalogId=10901&parentCategoryId=12203&childCatgroupId=12203&categoryId=12270&productId=1&langId=-1