We are very excited to announce the release of simpleCart(js) version 3, along with a new website: simplecartjs.org. We have been working for the last year to create a version of simpleCart(js) that was still just as easy to use, but provided the flexibility our users were looking for. We’ve had great feedback along the way, and we think simpleCart(js) v3 is gonna knock your socks off.

(excited? Go right to the source code on github).

What’s New?

Everything.

Well, sort of. Version 3 is not backward compatible with version 2 and was essentially rewritten from the ground up, but many concepts and methods have stayed the same. One of the big changes is that simpleCart(js) now requires jQuery, prototype, or MooTools. We found that almost everyone using simpleCart(js) is already using one of those libraries, so we might as well make use of their great feature set. You can use any of them, you just have to include at least one.

Adding to the Cart

You can create shelf items the same way as before:

<div class="simpleCart_shelfItem">
    <h2 class="item_name">Awesome T-Shirt</h2>
    <span class="item_price">$23.00</span>
    <a href="javascript:;" class="item_add">Add to Cart</a>
</div>

Adding to the cart with javascript is similar, but now uses an object for the item properties:

 simpleCart.add({
     name: "Awesome T-Shirt",
     price: 23
 });

Setup

simpleCart(js) now provides a simple way to set your options all at once, with the flexibility to update them at any time:

 simpleCart({
   checkout: {
     type: "PayPal",
     email: "you@yours.com"
   },
   currency: "GBP",
   taxRate: 0.06
 });

… And a whole bunch of new cool features

We built it from the ground up to provide new features and flexibility like an awesome new event system, a more flexible checkout, better currency options, and lots more.

Better Docs

This is probably the most important part about the release. With all of these new features, we needed a much better way for users to get the info they need to build great shopping cart sites. The new docs section of the site is an ever expanding collection of how-to’s and function references to make sure you know how to do anything. We also provide a comments section on the docs for users to post their own examples. As always, you can get the source on github and find support on the issues section.

Get Building!

We are excited to see what will be built with this release, and would love to get your feedback. If you have bugs to report or feature requests, you can post them on github or discuss current posts. Don’t forget to check out the documentation and features on the new site. Thanks!