I'm a web designer/developer, and so any cart I use must allow me to completely redesign the store look, not just modify a template. I can't find any documentation of their templating system beyond the CSS chart and the small amount in the shop manual. Honestly, is that all there is?
 
I'm sure they'd love to design for me, but I can do that myself, thanks. I chose Viart over Jshop because of its feature array, but if I can't get anywhere on customization I'm going to have to take advantage of Viart's 30 money back guarantee.

no

Ibn, I laughed first, then groaned at your response. This is a GREAT product for features, and if the Viart staff would just take a little time to a) document the layout customization and b) convert from a legacy table based layout to all CSS they would be bringing in business in droves. Too bad. I'd hate to see Viart lose out to an inferior product for something that would be relatively easy to do.

What i meant was that their documentation is not that good. It only touches some aspects of the templating system.
 
I have created viart templates and you really are on your own over here.
 
 

Ibn, what you said is exactly what I thought you meant, no misunderstanding there. It's just too bad, because they have a very good product that they are doing a disservice to, because of poor documentation and not moving their templating system to standards compliant CSS.
 
Attention Viart, feel free to address my concerns here and offer some hope that you are at least aware of this and have plans to do something about it!

I'd really like to see some basic documentation on this too, it would madke development a lot easier.
 
I'm not 100% sold on moving to 100% css templates. Eliminating tables can make templates a lot more complex for, this in turn will make it harder for many new users to grasp. I think the answer is to have both, a simple table based design AND a css compliant design.
 
Further to than, it would be great if Viart supported independent template developers. This would have several benefits:
1) Offload work from their developers, let them focus on developing and finishing core functionality
2) Increase the appeal and utility with better 'human factors' (in my opinion a weak spot)
3) Making the package more 'turnkey' for many shop owners.
 
All without any cost to Viart. A rich set of template options supported by third parties would really open a lot of market opportunities at not cost to Viart.
 
Maybe a user supported contest could catalyze this - $1000 to the best template?

I went with jshop because of it's straightforward CSS editable features and easy TSYS template system that any CSSer could get around. It's rock solid in performance too, quick and the admin is logically organised but do wish it had as many features as VIART eg more download options. When the CSS documentation becomes clearer for VIART I may switch; at the same time, I am looking forward to an update to the JShop this year.

My company just purchased ViArt because the features are great and the templating looked straightforward enough for me to work with, but lack of documentation is definitely a concern.
 
I've tried a variety of shopping carts and the ones with the most flexibility tend to have the greatest lack of documentation (especially open source). I've heard complaints about ProStores but their documentation is very extensive and gives a sense of stability and confidence to the user.
 
I know developers are not technical writers by nature, but even if ViArt has to hire someone to do it and raise their prices slightly, it's soo worth it for the development of their product and business as a whole.
 
Overall ViArt is a great product and you can tell the developers tried to think of every detail a user could possibly need...
 
I agree with Wazoodle about opening up ViArt to template developers, that would a mutually beneficial relationship where ViARt, clients, and themers could all benefit from pre-made templates. I'd be interested in creating themes myself, it's fun for me..

Hello Dani - this may help:
http://www.viart.com/new_manual_forum.html
 
Chris