Observation of Yahoo Floating Cart
After setting up the new Yahoo Floating Cart module on several Yahoo stores we found some PROS and CONS that we’d like to share with you.
NOTE: our observation is reflecting the recent status of this Yahoo module and could not be applied to further revisions and system updates. Also, these notes reflect our opinion only and could be used only as an informational source.
You can compare the Yahoo module we implemented at http://www.holytrinitystore.com/holy-family-icon-2762.html with our own floating cart module that we installed at www.1-800-Porcelain.com
PROS: 1) The Yahoo module includes the Floating Cart Manager which makes Cart tuning a pretty easy process. Settings include turning the Floating Cart on/off, defining Cart behavior on a page, and other options and useful functions for both versions (mini cart or floating cart).
2) The Floating cart has an attractive look and shows nice, up-to-date visual effects in a table layout
CONS: 1) The installation process is easy only for not-customized Stores (with Editor version 3.0). All other stores will experience difficulties with the Floating cart’s initial implementation. In some cases, it will require the RTML templates to be corrected and sometimes the Floating cart will not be installed at all. If your store templates generate the old page DOCTYPE, then unfortunately the Floating Cart layout will be messed up and unable to be corrected.
You could check the DOCTYPE of your store’s pages by looking at the first line of the page source before any other tags:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”>
<html><head><title>
This is an OLD doctype, which produces the compatibility problems with many present-day applications, including the Yahoo Floating Cart
The new doctype that goes with new RTML templates looks like this:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd”>
<html><head><title>
2) The Yahoo Floating Cart only supports drop down select boxes to show product options, but does not support “Radio” buttons. It also does not support the “add-to-Cart” check boxes combined with an “Order” button (e.g. for accessories and main product)
3) The Yahoo Floating cart is hard to customize with its layout. Not all the classes are included in available CSS file forediting. For instance, the backgrounds (color or images) could be edited, but the width of the table is causing difficulty to change.
4) The Yahoo Floating cart table has a fixed position on a page (non-movable)
All these limitations are not affecting our Floating cart module which could be installed at any type of store. It supports all types of special modules (“Quick Shop”, “Free Gift on Shopping Cart”, Product options via Radio boxes, etc). Our module is fully customizable and displays the content of your store’s shopping cart precisely. Please call or e-mail us for more details and information.
RTML Operator “AS-LIST”
In an RTML template the newly created operator looks like:
AS-LIST type nil
class nil
id nil
style nil
title nil
This operator insert <ul>….</ul> or <ol>….</ol> lists html tags into the page code. The type of tag depends on the attribute type value, either :оrdered or :unordered
EXAMPLE
AS-LIST type :оrdered
ITEM
TEXT "First Notation"
ITEM
TEXT "Second Notation"
The HTML code will be generated as:
<ol><li>First Notation</li><li>Second Notation</li></ol>
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