Customizing

[jkphil93]

Hello, I am very very new to this and need to customize my store ASAP as there is a big national online event taking place next week and will be able to help kick start my online store. I am having a hard time understanding what it is i change and where. I admit i have read some of the FAQ's and posts here but just as confused as I was before. I am hoping if I can get more specific help from anyone who knows how to custimize.

I am trying my best to figure out how to edit the basic green template with different color backgrounds & store header I make in Photoshop but before designing them i am trying to get an undertanding for how to change it, as I dont know coding w/o pretty much a step by step clear explanation or video tutorial. If anyone can help me I would so appreciate it.

Here is what I want to do:
-change the side bar text colors in both the header and list of link options (text itself).

-change the color of the side bar header banners/background (part in green).

-Add a custom background i created in PS (is there a specific height and width i should create it in?)

--Add a custom store name banner i created in PS? (will i have to change any layout settings when adding a thicker banner?)

FYI. I had zen cart installed by TMDhosting so i didnt need to and I access my files via FTP. But I asked them if they could or if i need to create a custom folder before editing my template and they have not answered my question. If i need to, where do I put it, call it etc? I see a lot of FAQ's talk about the custom folder so reason for bringing this up?


PS. Also I sorta like 2 of the free templates ut heard it is harder to customize unless using the classic green one, is this true? I tried to get some help from my host TMDhosting but they havent really pointed me in the right direction I need.

[afo]

No, it's not true that editing a free template is harder than using the classic template. If you look at my nephew's site in my sig, that's the Future Zen template which I further customized. The other 2 site are templates I did myself. The Holzheimer site is probably going to change when I get some time to do it.

You are putting a lot of pressure on yourself in trying to get this done in such a short period of time. I understand why you want to do it, but the deadline is much too close.

YOU should create the folders you need or you should install one of the free templates (in which case most of the folders will be included with the template).

I created this list a very long time ago and it's probably outdated, but I'll post it here anyway because you might find it useful. Using an existing free template is also a good way to learn how the custom templates work.

To create a very basic custom template (you can build from there), you need:

• includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE/english.php
• includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/index.php
• includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/meta_tags.php
• includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/header.php (to change the logo)
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_header.php <- may not be necessary
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_footer.php <- may not be necessary
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/images/logo.gif
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css

Anywhere you see a /classic/ folder, you can create a folder for your custom template. You can copy the necessary files from either the /classic/ folder, the /template_default/ folder or the parent folder.

Edit includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php to give your template identifying information so you'll recognize it in the admin under tools->template selection.

[jkphil93]

Thank you. I appreciate your help and honestly about not rushing thru setting it up. I am a digital scrap-booking shopper and watched others put theirs together literally that day so thought with the right info that may have been possible. I see now, its not. Thank you again.

[afo]

That depends on how detailed you want to make the customization. I'd say that if you use one of the free templates, you could have a functional site in a short period of time, but completing the Zen Cart learning curve takes longer.

[jkphil93]

Thank you, I am having an issue understanding creating my CUSTOM folders and where. I appreciate the list and yes your list has some of the locations that I see say to place a CUSTOM folder in each section. My question is, am I just creating an empty folder or should I be placing something in each of these CUSTOM's folders installed throughout this all.

This is so frustrating. I was originally told that choosing the FLOWERS template all I would have to do is edit the style sheet. A friend showed me her stylesheet and tried to tell me where to find where to change font colors and side box header backgrounds but my stylesheet didnt have any of that.

Should I just revert back to the original template then. OMG i never realized how hard this is. I know a couple ppl who make it look so simple but b/c I will be competition to them they dont want to help me completely and only give bits and pieces of info and it is starting to make my head spin. Lol. No they apparently are not my friends.

[afo]

You only need to create folders for your custom template where you are going to modify files. I'll give you an example.

If you want to change english.php, create your template folder in includes/languages and copy includes/languages/english.php into it and edit the file in includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE/english.php.

Your friends are right that you can just edit the stylesheet. If the sections they suggest aren't in your current stylesheet, you can add them by copying them from another stylesheet (like the one in includes/templates/classic/css/stylesheet.css).

The best way to do this is to unzip Zen Cart on your computer so that you can see the folder and file structure. Use a good text editor like Notepad++ or Crimson Editor to edit php files. You'll need an FTP client like FileZilla to upload your changes to your website.

Another great tool is the Firefox browser with the webdeveloper addon or the firebug addon which allow you to edit the stylesheet and see the changes on the fly. You'll have to save your changes separately and upload them to the website to make them permanent, but at least you'll have an idea of what you're doing.

[jkphil93]

Thank you thank you. I appreciate your help and explaining that to me. I never realized how overwhelming this can be. Last nite I used web developer to edit the stylesheet and like u said what the changes appear. If I didnt see a change happen I undid what i changed until I understand exactly what that was. I stayed up all nite working on the stylesheet and was happy with its appearance, saved it, replaced the current stylesheet with it thru my ftp and some changes were there but one thing wasnt and I dont know why b/c in web developer showed it in the new color. I dont know, maybe the sidebox headers are images and not just a color. How would I go about removing them if they are in fact images? I am using the Flowers/Orange Template. If I do need to remove the image to get rid of the sideboxheader orange, do i remove the images from the images folder AND the stylesheet or just the images folder?

Thank you again, you have been a tremendous help.

[afo]

If it's an image, the image should be called in the stylesheet. You can either remove it from there and replace it with the color you want or you can replace the image itself if you have an image editor (like PaintShopPro or Photoshop).