hmm, i see your viewpoint better now. Nice analogy with in-store shopping for adding clarity.
I too do a lot of online shopping, and find myself having to click on the cart to be sure it got added as I want on others sites. So seems it is really a matter of personal shopping preference from the customer side.
AbanteCart does have the add directly without going to page on the from the home and category pages. But not from the product pages.
The one improvement I would like to see is having the continue shopping button also right under the product lists on the checkout page. That will return them to the page they came from. But with the location at the bottom by the Total line it is often missed by shoppers. It is a subtle change, but effective for customers to continue shopping.
For me, if we can get the continue shopping button located higher on the checkout page and using the add to cart as it is on the home and categories pages, I like the way that works. Just my opinion here.
thanks for your feedback.
Lee