V4.11.1 New Owlcarousel Image Viewer

I like many others have not upgraded our live store which is on V4.9.3 but I am trying to keep up to date on my dev sites as there are many new issues since V4.10.X. Well, starting with V4.11.1 CSC has stripped away all options for an image viewer. We are now left with OwlCarousel which is at least based on appearance is horrible.

This is from their blog post.

[*] Image galleries: Outdated galleries (FancyBox, MagnificPopup, prettyPhoto, Lightbox) were removed.

I am not going to suggest that any of the removed ones were any better the other and we all had probably used different ones for different reasons. Still, I think we should have some kind of choice here. Anyhow, OwlCarousel presents terrible on a PC. No ALT info and the window is enormous. I'd really like to get the Alt info back and the bordering of the image leaves lots to be desired.

I have played around with CSS and have not been successful making adjustments to the window.

FYI: For those that have not yet upgraded to V4.11.1. It has issues and is not considered stable in my mind (As does V4.10x). Still, I am trying to roll with the punches and so I am ready when the CSC fixes the issues. Maybe that will be with V4.12.X or maybe I will move to another platform. I am getting tired of the recent decisions on the direction of CSC. Anyhow, off my soapbox. Any, input on OWLCarousel is appreaciated.

Thanks

Ken

This is good point. I don't understand why is removing outdated stuff without adding alternatives or new updated.

The funny thing is that the title of this post is not correct. To be specific, cs-cart uses OwlCarousel v1. The latest version is v2.3.4 and on the github page of the project (https://github.com/OwlCarousel2/OwlCarousel2) there is this information:

YEAH SO THIS IS PRETTY MUCH DEAD, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND SWITCH TO tiny-slider

Calling OwlCarousel "New" is a misuse :P

Jokes aside, why don't you add e.g. swiperjs (https://github.com/nolimits4web/Swiper/) or slick (https://github.com/kenwheeler/slick). In my opinion it's always good to stick with the projects which has huge support of the community. Both of the above mentioned solutions have about 24 000 stars on github.

Guess CSC wants everyone's carts built around a bar bones solution that causes everyone to invest lots of money and time fixing it. Perhaps that is more profitable for them. Otherwise there is no explanation for these changes.

Whole cscat demo store looks old fashioned…

Guess CSC wants everyone's carts built around a bar bones solution that causes everyone to invest lots of money and time fixing it. Perhaps that is more profitable for them. Otherwise there is no explanation for these changes.


That's actually not the case. We'd like to make the default CS-Cart as useful as possible to as wide of an audience as possible, without the need of extra spendings on custom development. On the other hand, it's impossible to implement everything in one go. That's why we have to set priorities and do some things first and other things second. Different clients have different demands, some of which are harder to implement than others. Deciding what to do next is always a tough decision because we have to find balance between different requests. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other technical factors involved, such as backward compatibility and the complexity of subsequent maintenance.

I know this explanation doesn't solve the problem raised in the first post. But I hope it at least gives a better idea as to why things as they are.

About the issue with OwlCarousel in particular. Of all the image viewers that existed in CS-Cart by default, OwlCarousel was the only one that adhered to modern web requirements. Other default viewers were at a disadvantage to OwlCarousel (for example, they didn't support swiping on touch-enabled devices), and that's why they were removed.

There are plans to look into adding other image viewers. Currently, it's planned for December, unless something changes.

I would like to give you advice, sell your products and services you got on www.cs-cart.com on exactly same 1:1 theme as demo.cs-cart.com this way you would be more likely to improve your main product..

That's actually not the case. We'd like to make the default CS-Cart as useful as possible to as wide of an audience as possible, without the need of extra spendings on custom development. On the other hand, it's impossible to implement everything in one go. That's why we have to set priorities and do some things first and other things second. Different clients have different demands, some of which are harder to implement than others. Deciding what to do next is always a tough decision because we have to find balance between different requests. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other technical factors involved, such as backward compatibility and the complexity of subsequent maintenance.

I know this explanation doesn't solve the problem raised in the first post. But I hope it at least gives a better idea as to why things as they are.

About the issue with OwlCarousel in particular. Of all the image viewers that existed in CS-Cart by default, OwlCarousel was the only one that adhered to modern web requirements. Other default viewers were at a disadvantage to OwlCarousel (for example, they didn't support swiping on touch-enabled devices), and that's why they were removed.

There are plans to look into adding other image viewers. Currently, it's planned for December, unless something changes.

There are plans to look into adding other image viewers. Currently, it's planned for December, unless something changes.

The real issue is that you stripped away applications that people were using without providing a good alternative. V4.9.3, the most recent usable version, of CSC, doesn't even have the very outdated Owlcarousel. We all, were using something else that is now gone and most of us probably feel our previous choice was better. Then you state you are looking at bringing in an alternative in December. I am astonished, that you would not make the change all at once. It just doesn't make sense. It is like saying oops i'm sorry we'll fix it. V4.10.x and 4.11.x thus far have had so many disappointments. You guys really need to get things back on track. We all depend on you to provide a solid foundation for all of our businesses. Not many of us are feeling warm and fuzzy right now.

Thanks

Ken

Hi
I have same Problem i just start my new Project on MV 4.11.2 found there is missing Default image previewer: all the main 4 options, and this is really ridiculous without to provide alternative cs cart has removed remvoved 4 most useage image previewer!
FancyBox
LightBox
Magnific Popup
Prettyphoto
I hope cs cart will solve this Problem as soon as quick!
Thanks

I checked with CSC support last week and was told that they plan on adding SWIPER to the next CSC release which is expected in the first half of this month. I did a search for swiper and it looks pretty cool. Don't know what functionality they will bring to CSC though. It certainly won't be all of it.

Sorry to say but SWIPER is not helpfull as the 4.10.x these 4 removed

FancyBox

LightBox
Magnific Popup
Prettyphoto
and the OwlCarousel is also not useful on mobile devices can not zoom in, i really don't understand why the cs cart removed old these 4 image previewer, and i also dont understand, for which professionals cs cart users required those new previewers and they may be happy with it, kindly let me know i want to talk them, and i also want to check their websites!
OwlCarousel previewers is only perfect to use on desktop & laptop devices but the both these new previewers are 1000% rubbish on mobile & tab devices!
i request to cs cart team that they ask all users before they release upgrades, to test what they want to change! its not a big deal to send the users with a demo link to test it!
Thanks CS CART

About the issue with OwlCarousel in particular. Of all the image viewers that existed in CS-Cart by default, OwlCarousel was the only one that adhered to modern web requirements. Other default viewers were at a disadvantage to OwlCarousel (for example, they didn't support swiping on touch-enabled devices), and that's why they were removed.

There are plans to look into adding other image viewers. Currently, it's planned for December, unless something changes.

It is now AUG 2020 and OwlCarousel is the ONLY option in CS-Cart 4.11. We are a digital ART website and OwlCarousel is so unattractive it's actually embarrassing to use it. Next time you might want to find good solutions BEFORE you remove a bunch of features people are using - even if you're removing them for legitimate reasons.

I need an update on the status of whatever alternatives you're adding, please.

It is now AUG 2020 and OwlCarousel is the ONLY option in CS-Cart 4.11. We are a digital ART website and OwlCarousel is so unattractive it's actually embarrassing to use it. Next time you might want to find good solutions BEFORE you remove a bunch of features people are using - even if you're removing them for legitimate reasons.

I need an update on the status of whatever alternatives you're adding, please.


Swiper was added in version 4.11.3 released on February 4, 2020. You can try it at https://demo.cs-cart.com/. By default, the demo still uses OwlCarousel; to change it to Swiper, go to Settings > Appearance, set Default image previewer to Swiper, and click Save.


Swiper was added in version 4.11.3 released on February 4, 2020. You can try it at https://demo.cs-cart.com/. By default, the demo still uses OwlCarousel; to change it to Swiper, go to Settings > Appearance, set Default image previewer to Swiper, and click Save.

Not to us it wasn't; MVE 4.11.1.SP1 is the newest version available to us in Upgrade Center.


Swiper was added in version 4.11.3 released on February 4, 2020. You can try it at https://demo.cs-cart.com/. By default, the demo still uses OwlCarousel; to change it to Swiper, go to Settings > Appearance, set Default image previewer to Swiper, and click Save.

We were finally able to upgrade to 4.11.5 over the last few weeks and Swiper is MUCH better than OwlCarousel - thank you!

The only issue we're having with it is now is you cannot drag & drop images from the storefront into other content / apps, such as Mailchimp for our newsletter. I assume this is due to the swiping functionality and I don't know if there's anything that can be done about it, but thought I'd ask just in case.

Thanks!!