Dear Melinda,
Thanks a lot for accepting to answer our interview!
Your contribution in our Community is greatly appreciated by our whole Team.
Hi Melinda, can you present yourself?
>>> My name is Melinda Odom and I’m originally from Texas but now live in beautiful Arkansas! Around 1996 I started doing a little web design and it involved into hosting those clients. A little later I got excited about ecommerce and learning about the different ecommerce stores available at the time. I eventually found osCommerce and started using it for my ecommerce clients. I asked a lot of questions and kept notes and learned more about php and mysql (believe me I’m not there yet but learn something each day). I got involved by helping with the documentation for osCommerce which also helped my ecommerce clients to learn how to use the admin for their store.
After several years of using osCommerce for my clients I could see that the code was not being kept updated and was hard to contact the team members which I was one so I started looking for another solution.
How did you discover PrestaShop?
>>> In the summer of 2008 I found PrestaShop and really liked what I saw and read about plug-in modules, etc. I decided right then that I would use PrestaShop as my ecommerce solution but had a lot to learn before implementing it.
My first PrestaShop setup for a new client was a year later (2009) and the change over from osCommerce to PrestaShop for my original clients followed afterwards. My clients are very satisfied with PrestaShop and all the features they can use.
What made you feel like joining the Community?
>>> I joined the community to ask questions and learn as much as I could about PrestaShop.
What are, according to you, PrestaShop’s assets?
>>> I believe PrestaShop’s greatest asset is that they keep up with regular code updates so PrestaShop works on a variety of servers and settings.
Other assets are the willingness of the friendly PrestaShop team members to help you with problems with their knowledge and expertise which is outstanding.
What software do you use alongside PrestaShop?
>>> ??? I only use PrestaShop!
What PrestaShop features did you love the most?
>>> I love everything about PrestaShop but the most loved features are the ability to move categories, products, and cms pages in a new location and to create additional cms modules directly from the admin. I also love the way the store owners can do most things themselves and do not have to rely on someone else to make changes for them. This is a big blessing for me! Tremendous stats also! There is so much to love that it’s hard to pick just a few things.
Which advice would you give to a new member of our Community?
>>> I would say to a new member to just jump right in and read all the documentation and post your questions on the forum and keep notes. Setup a test store and learn, learn, learn!
You have a great number of contributions on the Forum, how much time do you spend on the Forum per day?
>>> I like to help with bug reports and peruse the forum for information type helps to add to the documentation for my clients and the forum.
Something you would like to add?
>>> I see a very bright future for PrestaShop and would just like to say a big “THANK YOU” to all the team who make this fabulous store available to us!
Thanks a lot for your answers!