osCommerce Cafe

As you know, I'm a fan of good design. Why do I just have the basic design on this site? Well, I've been working on that. Part of the reason, however is that good design is not always easy to find, nor is it always easy to get financially.

The osCommerce Cafe was set up specifically to help designers create gorgeous sites for people with online stores. Set up by Myles O'Reilly, author of The Programmers' Guide to osCommerce, in March of 2006, The osCommerce Cafe currently has 70 different templates from which to choose. The templates are neatly organized in 19 different categories, so you can easily find a theme that matches the store for which you are designing.

Categories include:
Animals & Pets
Art & Photography
Books
Computers
Electronics
Fashion
Flowers
Food & Drink
Games
Gifts
Jewelry
Hobbies
Interior & Furniture
Kids & Toys
Music
Outdoors
Seasonal
Software
Sports

There are many great designs. Here's a nice one in the fashion category. I checked there first since Kevin makes t-shirts. This was a little more haute couture than what he does (understatement!), but I like that, too. There is currently one in the Art & Photography section, but it's nice. This is my favorite in the flowers section. I used to make jewelry. This would be a nice template for my jewelry store (if it ever comes to exist). I especially like the mix of funky elegance. Unusual, in my opinion.

One of the coolest things about this site is that you just pay a membership fee to get access to all the designs for a specified period of time. The base membership is $89 for 3 months, which is a huge savings when you consider that purchasing individual templates can cost upwards of $150/design. There are also memberships for 6 months or 1 year.

~t