Cookware for ceramic cooktop.

Weiman's cleaner is great for glass top stoves. Even the little scrubby sponges by Weiman's are cheaper than the green 3M brand.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weiman-Glass-Cook-Top-Cleaner-15-oz/15107756

I use a single edge razor blade to get off any crusty bits first.

I love my ceramic cook top. Maybe that makes me less of a cook because I prefer it to gas (like my parents have at their house), but then again, I'm the one doing the cleaning too. I've been cooking on ceramic for almost 7 years now and I have no complaints. In those 7 years, I have used all kinds of pans and have not had an issue with damage to the cooking surface. I use my cast iron 10" and 12" skillet, my blue steel gratin patin and my cast iron dutch oven regularly (as in, I pretty much only cook with these pans versus my revere ware) and it works perfectly. The way you will damage the cooktop is if it's not clean before you start heating it (just burns stuff to the surface) or if your pans' bottoms aren't clean. However, there are some excellent ceramic stovetop specific cleansers out there (other than Bar Keeper's Friend which I think smells terrible) in both pastes for abrasive sponge use and sprays that can be wiped off and remove grease. I use Clorox Wipes most of the time.

We moved from gas stovetop in our old house to ceramic in our current one. Have used both Allclad (master something or other) and IKEA 365 cookware on both surfaces, and both work fine. I actually like the ceramic cooktop much more than I thought I would. Easy to clean and conducts hear evenly.

I rented a condo with one. I actually kind of liked it. I loved that there weren't burners or drip pans to deal with. I was a little afraid of it at first. My landlord assured me that any cookware works. A flat bottom is preferred so that the pan is evenly heated. Glass cookware is not suggested. I don't own any, so I don't remember the details on that.

You just don't want to be moving the pans back and forth a lot. I probably used my cast iron the least simply for that reason.

Barkeepers friend made for such cooktops is what I used to clean it. My landlord used softscrub. That just seemed wrong, but he swore by it. They rarely cooked, so I went with my instincts on that.

Gas is also not available to me, but I do wish I had the ceramic top over the regular cooktop that I have now.