Integrate Zen into Joomla

[rued]

Originally Posted by RtX

My ongoing hope is that this will not be perceived as a cause for winning or losing. Everyone wins if we can find or create something as powerful and flexible as the integration of two brilliant systems like Joomla! and Zen-Cart.

Indeed ...
I fully agree on this one, no doubt. :)

[puggy]

Originally Posted by yellow1912

Ok, I want to stop the argument right here. Some people mentioned he/she wants joomla because its editor can manage files, so I simply point out that if he/she ONLY needs that, there is no need to use joomla, zc already has it.

If people want to use joomla or whatever, it's their own choice. What is the benefit for me to stop them from doing so? Why do you think I want to do something that do NOT benefit me (or others) in any way?

On my website, I have forums, Galleries and reopening my store. In the past the users had to log into each separate part of my site. With a CMS like Joomla they only need 1 log in for parts of my site, which ZC could not do with out heavy moding of each part of my website. Someone in the web community had suggested I needed a CMS, I looked at all of my options and found Joomla to be the best and easiest to use.

[dax702]

There's simply no comparison between the CMS aspects of Zen Cart and Joomla. I'm not bagging on Zen, it's fine for putting up simple text pages with terms, company info and so on.. But say I want to have a video or photo gallery, forum and so on.

I've been trying to make a decision over the past several months when I get time to research replacing my outdated website and shopping cart from 2002. Ever since stumbling onto Joomla I feel this is the way to go (especially for someone like me who is not a coder by any means of the word)

So I want to use Joomla with some ecommerce system such as Zen Cart or Virtuemart, etc.. Just like Joomla has an extensive array of user contributed extensions, so does Zen Cart and that makes it a contender.

I've also been informed that there is a project underway called Cartage which is supposed to integrate Zen and Joomla, so I'm anxiously waiting to see what that will be like

[DivaVocals]

Originally Posted by dax702

There's simply no comparison between the CMS aspects of Zen Cart and Joomla. I'm not bagging on Zen, it's fine for putting up simple text pages with terms, company info and so on.. But say I want to have a video or photo gallery, forum and so on.

I've been trying to make a decision over the past several months when I get time to research replacing my outdated website and shopping cart from 2002. Ever since stumbling onto Joomla I feel this is the way to go (especially for someone like me who is not a coder by any means of the word)

So I want to use Joomla with some ecommerce system such as Zen Cart or Virtuemart, etc.. Just like Joomla has an extensive array of user contributed extensions, so does Zen Cart and that makes it a contender.

I've also been informed that there is a project underway called Cartage which is supposed to integrate Zen and Joomla, so I'm anxiously waiting to see what that will be like

I too am patiently awaiting the launch of Cartage..

My advice is to stay FAR FAR away from VirtueMart.. Unless you are prepared to spend A LOT of time jerry rigging things so they HALFWAY work..

I will NEVER do another Virtuemart cart (sadly I did ONE).. There's many reasons behind my decision.. However, the biggest of them remains the lack of good community support on the VirtueMart forums.. I also found it off putting that the VirtueMart team CRUCIFIES anyone who points this shortcoming out.. The team and it's followers have repeatedly told me that this is how ALL open source projects are run.. I have REPEATEDLY pointed out this and other communities as an example of how wrong they are.. VirtueMart is not even a GOOD shopping cart solution.. It is in actuality the ONLY halfway functional e-commerce solution for Joomla which is the ONLY thing IMO which is lending to it's proliferation and popularity amongst Joomla site owners..

So while I wait for Cartage, I have found a cool template contribution here which allows me to make my ZenCart LOOK like it's integrated with Joomla.. It's a cheat, but it's what I will do from now on until Cartage finally gets off the ground (presuming of course that Cartage is a good working solution).. I have one client I used this template integration solution with, and I will be doing the same thing again soon for my ONE client who is using VirtueMart..

**Still patiently waiting for the arrival of the mythical unicorn known as Cartage**

[dax702]

Diva, can you elaborate on this template you're talking about? I've never actually used Zen Cart as of yet. I did just discover another cart which is very nice, it's commercial but I like it a lot, it's called LiveCart, great admin area that is all AJAX.. But at this point I'm pretty much open to any cart including Zen of course. Can you give me a URL for the template that "looks like Joomla" ? I would like to see that..

[puggy]

Templates are a pain in when trying to match 2 different web apps. That is one reason why a CMS. I have tried several CMS's and so far Joomla is way above the rest in functions. It allows you install everything from templates and add-on without having to modify different files to get it to work. The best thing I like about it is the template editor, allows you both HTML edit or CSS edit right in the admin section and preview from there.

[DivaVocals]

Originally Posted by puggy

Templates are a pain in when trying to match 2 different web apps. That is one reason why a CMS. I have tried several CMS's and so far Joomla is way above the rest in functions. It allows you install everything from templates and add-on without having to modify different files to get it to work. The best thing I like about it is the template editor, allows you both HTML edit or CSS edit right in the admin section and preview from there.

Perhaps this would be true if I was using one of the many pre-designed ZenCart templates available.. Trying to get one of these templates to look exactly like a Joomla template would totally be an ENORMOUS PITA..

However, the Zen template I used eliminated much of the PITA factor.. So instead of struggling to skin two web apps to look alike, I only needed to create a very simple HTML file, and make changes to the two stylesheets to synch the look and feel of Joomla and ZenCart.. Much simpler process I can assure you..

Would it be easier if Cartage was available as a Joomla module?? Well DUH!!! Of course it would.. I would LOVE to be able to have ZenCart available as a Joomla module.. And when (if) Cartage is available, I will be all over it (provided it works well..) But until then, if I have a client who's site calls for using Joomla & e-commerce, I will NOT be offering them VirtueMart as their e-commerce solution. (even if it eliminates the need to synch two web apps) I will continue to use my ZenCart embedded template solution so that I can offer my clients the best open source e-commerce solution available which sadly is NOT VirtueMart.. (and yes I've seen the latest release.. it's better, but it still missed the mark and the support on their forum STILL SUCKS..)

Originally Posted by dax702

Diva, can you elaborate on this template you're talking about? I've never actually used Zen Cart as of yet. I did just discover another cart which is very nice, it's commercial but I like it a lot, it's called LiveCart, great admin area that is all AJAX.. But at this point I'm pretty much open to any cart including Zen of course. Can you give me a URL for the template that "looks like Joomla" ? I would like to see that..

I don't want to completely hijack this thread with the details of my solution.. So I sent you a PM..

[puggy]

I am working on right now a way to edit Joomla templates to match the one I am planing to use when I re-open my store (hopefully by Monday). I have ran in to a few minor details with edges are not the same colors and installing my own font I had created for the site.

[RtX]

Originally Posted by DivaVocals

I don't want to completely hijack this thread with the details of my solution.. So I sent you a PM..

I'd like to know your solution and would not count it as a hijack.
TIA,
RtX

[puggy]

Originally Posted by RtX

I'd like to know your solution and would not count it as a hijack.
TIA,
RtX

What I did was copy the files from Joomla template that I used into a new folder for zen cart template. Then I edited my css for the template to match the joomla one for color and images, then I pointed zen to my new template. Now I have tried wrapping Zen into Joomla but I didnot like the way it looked so it is now outside of Joomla and still users have to create a separate log in to Zen. Now I have done this on my test system and have not yet migrated the files to my website. I am planning on doing that this weekend if time permits.