Basic editing

[travellers]

I've only just installed zencart so I'm about as green as it gets, but I do have a couple of phpbb forums which I've customised quite heavily without problems. I'm struggling to find even the most basic edits though - I've browsed the stylesheet.css (for the classic template) looking for a way to widen my page to about 930 pixels and just cant find it. Any suggestions?
I also want to modify the page layout slightly for category index pages, and then for the individual product pages, but am having problems there too - in phpbb I'd simply edit index_body.tpl file for that, but it doesn't seem that zencart uses this hierarchy. Is there a tutorial somewhere for modifying the layout of particular pages to give me an idea of where to look?
I've ordered a hard copy of the book from lulu.com but I think its going to be a week or more before that turns up and I'm eager to get editing!
Many thanks for any assistance

[kuroi]

To change the page width you would tweak the width setting for the mainWrapper ID in the classic/css/stylesheet.css file.

For the rest we would need to know more specifically what you wished to do to be able to assess whether the changes are best achieved by editing the structure of the relevant templates, or the associated CSS.

[travellers]

To change the page width you would tweak the width setting for the mainWrapper ID in the classic/css/stylesheet.css file.

D'oh... how could I have missed that? Yup, of course, thats it. Thanks for spotting it!

For the rest we would need to know more specifically what you wished to do to be able to assess whether the changes are best achieved by editing the structure of the relevant templates, or the associated CSS.

Okay, well there isn't too much I want to change, really.
Generically, I'd like to suppress the banner that appears lowermost on all pages - the file thats called zencart_468_60_02.gif. I tried the advice in http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Top_10_questions about footers, but that was editing the 'powered by zencart' text under the IP address which I'm happy to keep, its the big banner underneath I want to get rid of! I'd have expected that to be in a file called 'footer.php' or 'footer.tpl' etc, but they dont appear to exist!

Then clicking a product category from my index takes me to a category listing page, with my sidebars enabled. All good, except that the listing contains 3 'columns' with the thumbnail in the left one, text in centre, and price/buy it now button in the right. I'd rather only have TWO columns, with the image and price on left, and the text having the full remaining width of centre and right column.

Finally, on the individual item page, I'd like to add another icon somewhere near the PREV/NEXT buttons with 'free delivery' or whatever, and at the foot of that page an editable field where I can place some additional text (I'm thinking that I'd like a box there with "Not quite what you're looking for? Try this suggested alternative instead" sort of thing).

[kuroi]

Generically, I'd like to suppress the banner that appears lowermost on all pages - the file thats called zencart_468_60_02.gif. I tried the advice in http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Top_10_questions about footers, but that was editing the 'powered by zencart' text under the IP address which I'm happy to keep, its the big banner underneath I want to get rid of! I'd have expected that to be in a file called 'footer.php' or 'footer.tpl' etc, but they dont appear to exist!

Easy. Just turn it off in the Admin (Admin > Tools > Banner Manager

Then clicking a product category from my index takes me to a category listing page, with my sidebars enabled. All good, except that the listing contains 3 'columns' with the thumbnail in the left one, text in centre, and price/buy it now button in the right. I'd rather only have TWO columns, with the image and price on left, and the text having the full remaining width of centre and right column.

A bit more complicated. This listing is designed to put each item into its own cell / column. Although you can change the items displayed and the order (Admin > Configuration > Product Listing) you would need to roll up your sleeves and tweak the code to change the layout. I'd recommend starting with the common/tpl_tabular_display.php template, but treading very carefully as this template is also used elsewhere.

Finally, on the individual item page, I'd like to add another icon somewhere near the PREV/NEXT buttons with 'free delivery' or whatever

This could be done by editing the tpl_product_info_default.php template, or by adding it as a banner, most easily as one of the sidebox banners.

and at the foot of that page an editable field where I can place some additional text (I'm thinking that I'd like a box there with "Not quite what you're looking for? Try this suggested alternative instead" sort of thing).

Sounds like you're looking for one of the cross-sell add-ons available from the link at the top of this page.

[travellers]

Easy. Just turn it off in the Admin (Admin > Tools > Banner Manager

Hmmm... You're good at this, aint ya?

A bit more complicated. This listing is designed to put each item into its own cell / column. Although you can change the items displayed and the order (Admin > Configuration > Product Listing) you would need to roll up your sleeves and tweak the code to change the layout. I'd recommend starting with the common/tpl_tabular_display.php template, but treading very carefully as this template is also used elsewhere.

THanks for that - you've told me more than enough that this is something I should leave alone until I'm a bit more familiar with the concepts used.

This could be done by editing the tpl_product_info_default.php template, or by adding it as a banner, most easily as one of the sidebox banners.

Thats the one - thanks, I'll have a gentle play with that later.

Sounds like you're looking for one of the cross-sell add-ons available from the link at the top of this page.

You could well be right. But, looking at the 'Template Alterations' category, how would I know? I mean, Yes, they do have a (very) brief description, maybe 50 words or so, but thats your lot. There's no picture of what it does, some of them dont even have a description at all, but they could be just what I want. It seems that the only way of discovering if the modification is one that anyone would find useful is to download it, install it, look at your site, and then say "Euch, I dont like that at all". Thats unbelievably frustrating!

[kuroi]

A little dated, but this might help.

[travellers]

A little dated, but this might help.

Thanks for that - I'll download it and give it a go. Meanwhile, I cant find the file you referred to earlier - tpl_product_info_default.php. You couldn't tell me where it hangs out could you?
Cheers!

[kuroi]

That's probably because I was typing from memory and misnamed it. It's actually tpl_product_info_display.php.