ZenCart for Dummies?

[olen1009]

Being new to ZenCart, but not to computers, I see post after post from extreme newbies who know virtually nothing about computers, how websites work, the relationship between PHP and HTML, the relationship between a web server and one's personal computer or browser, CSS's, FTP, etc, etc.

The questions are of the nature of: "I know how to drive my car and check the oil, so I think I have a good start in regarding to rebuilding my own transmission. But, can you tell me what a wrench is? And, also, where is the transmission?"

Unfortunately, control panels, and the like, give newbies the impression that they can do anything...without even basic knowledge of the web and what it entails or how it works.

I do not know how you gurus do not go crazy explaining the most basic of concepts over and over and over and over again...without gently suggesting that someone learn a very little bit before they request help!

I have a suggestion that would probably eliminate hundreds or thousands of questions that have been asked and answered:

Could I suggest that there be a ZenCart for Dummies file that, somehow, is made required reading when someone registers...the way one is often compelled to read conditions of use, etc?

It could have some basic, basic info and should be concise enough that no-one will mind scanning through it, even experts. It should make clear some basic points that I see you support people patiently explaining over and over again...specifically:

1. While web pages were all originally written in HTML, ZC is written in PHP which is an alternative language to HTML for writing web pages. Like HTML, PHP and CSS files are written in plain text and edited using a text editor.

1A. Even if CP was used to create the web server's ZC installation, using CPanel tools to edit ZC files can result in a corrupted file. The file to be modified should be obtained from a ZC archive unzipped to the local computer OR downloaded from ZC installation on the web server to the local PC using FTP, edited and then uploaded to the web server. CPanel does, however, allow various interactions with the database using, for example, mySOL.

2. FTP refers to a protocol and a type of program that allows someone to see the directory/file structure of one's web server and local PC and copy files between the server and the local PC and vice versa.

3. CSS files allow the formatting of multiple pages to be done with a single files that is referenced by multiple pages so that they all have the same formatting. Editing the CSS page changes the look of all pages that reference it.

3. Because there are multiple directories that make up a full ZC installation, there are a number of files in different directories on the web server, which have the same name but are different files. Different templates and languages can involve such similarly named, but different, files. It is important to edit the correct file to ensure that the desired changes take effect.

4. While the source page of any ZC web page displayed with a browser shows as HTML, the ZC program is written in PHP and the HTML in the source page doesn't actually exist on the web server. It is constructed, "on the fly", from portions of multiple PHP documents, when someone wants to view a ZC web page. To edit, in effect, the final page that will display, involves editing one or more of those individual PHP files.

5. The Admin control panel tools do not provide the ability to modify every single line of code in every single PHP, or other, ZC file or document. It provides the ability to modify various settings, edit documents that will display and create some such new pages from scratch. But there are numerous files that must be edited on one's local PC and then be uploaded to the correct ZC directory using FTP.

There are probably a few other really basic things one should know, but even what I just wrote would be a start!

Just a thought...

Olen from NJ, USA

[stevesh]

Agreed, and the 5 items you explain are a great start.

I'd guess that everyone who has been around here for a while has at least started to write a very basic tutorial. I know I have. Part of the difficulty of doing so is the number of times you need to insert an 'if': "if your host uses CPanel", "if you're using Filezilla', etc.

Maybe I'll take another look at finishing the one I started.

[olen1009]

Steve,

I wouldn't presume to try to, in a few paragraphs, teach people how to write HTML, code in PHP, create CSS's from scratch, use an FTP program, use C-Panel, etc, etc. It can't be done! And there are plenty of tutorials here and elsewhere on the web that would do a better job than anyone can do in a single email...

Rather, my gut feeling is that knowing what HTML, PHP, CSS'S, FTP, etc ARE, is an even more important first step than knowing how to write, use or manipulate them! Five or ten minutes of reading could give people a small, but important, foundation of understanding so that they won't:

try to modify files on the server with CPanel tools;
think that PHP is like HTML where you see an entire page in one script;
think they can effect every possible change they want through the admin page;
confuse languages with page types or applications with protocols, etc.

That five or ten minutes of reading would prevent many people from asking, and many other people from having to answer, what are basically nursery school level questions. It would not enable them to be ready to do the necessary functions, but they would have enough understanding to be able to understand what the ZenCart gurus are talking about (without having to constantly backtrack and define what they mean) and it is a genuine prerequisite for someone to learn further from tutorials.

Anyway...that's what I think.

Olen