SSL, HTTPS, eCommerce, and Woocommerce

Today I read on Timethief’s post that SSL connection encryption is being rolled out for blogs on custom domains.

I have a custom domain (photographworks.me) here on WP.com.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that there was no little padlock next to the address when I look at the site from the front end – that is the address you are seeing when you read this post.

When I view the site from the ‘back end’ in the Admin panel I see https at the beginning of the address. This is what I see:

https:// photographworks.wordpress.com/wp-admin/

Notice the https.

And I also see a little padlock next to the address.

Here you can see a comparison of the URL bars from the front end and the back end:

I asked WordPress Support and received this answer:

We have all WordPress.com URLs passing through HTTPS as we acquired a wildcard SSL certificate for WordPress.com and all *.wordpress.com subdomains.

Acquiring an SSL certificate is a complex and sometimes expensive process, and we have not yet decided how we’ll be able to provide SSL certificates for all mapped domains.

We are evaluating every option though, and have set a goal to get something available by the end of the year.

The phrase “set a goal to get something available” is somewhat unclear, so I was good to read Timethief’s post on the subject.

Now I don’t really care that the front end of this site isn’t under https. I know that the site is secure in the back end because the custom domain address is simply being mapped to the secure back end.

But https in general does interest me because I have been building a self-hosted WordPress ecommerce site using WooCommerce.

I have had to acquire an SSL certificate and secure the site under https. And the site has a little padlock 🙂

Consequently, I follow anything about SSL with more than passing interest.

One of the reasons I built the site using Woocommerce in preference to any other ecommerce option is because Automattic, the company that owns WordPress, bought Woocommerce last year.

I figured that if Woocommerce was good enough for Automattic to buy, then it was already a good ecommerce solution and would only get better over time.

Meanwhile, I have been talking with the man who owns a shop near here. He sells useful things for the home, but always with a design twist, or some kind of back-to-basics feel to things.

We were talking about ecommerce and he decided to go with WP.com and Ecwid.

Today I read in Timethief’s post that Ecwid, Gumroad, and Shopify ecommerce solutions have all been ‘retired’

What that means is that any sites already using them can continue to do so, but no new integrations are possible.

But I also read that staff at Automattic had confirmed that ‘We are working on integrating a superior e-commerce option for our users, but the timetable for that implementation is uncertain.”

That ‘superior e-commerce option’ surely has to be Woocommerce. And it really raises the game for everyone. Roll on the new integration – and if I have another site that I want to build using Woo, I will look seriously at building one on WP.com

Why would I do that, you may ask? Well, it’s because of the world-class backing of the WP.com infrastructure and absolutely as important – the community built around WP.com.

I think this has potential to be big.

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One last comment – when will e-commerce be retired and ecommerce confirmed as the only spelling option?