Embedding zencart within another website?

**nappyjim** · 19 Jun 2009, 11:33 PM

I've just started Zencart and was wondering if it would even be possible to in essence, place my entire zencart page inside the table of another page.

Here is a quick PS I did. I want to place my zencart inside the table that is highlighted red.

Is this possible and how hard is it? Cause I either need to create a sidebar that has the navigation pane that you see on the right, or put the zencart inside the current website. And I am not a web guy by trade, I'm networking, but I have to wear lots of hats. Thanks guys!

[SCR]http://nappyjim.com/zen.jpg[/SCR]

**niccol** · 20 Jun 2009, 12:15 AM

Originally Posted by nappyjim

I've just started Zencart and was wondering if it would even be possible to in essence, place my entire zencart page inside the table of another page.

Here is a quick PS I did. I want to place my zencart inside the table that is highlighted red.

Is this possible and how hard is it? Cause I either need to create a sidebar that has the navigation pane that you see on the right, or put the zencart inside the current website. And I am not a web guy by trade, I'm networking, but I have to wear lots of hats. Thanks guys!

Out of the two options I would say that creating a sidebox for Zen Cart that has the links that you require is much easier.

**schoolboy** · 20 Jun 2009, 10:13 PM

Zencart is designed to be your website, because the front and back ends of the site are intricately woven together. Zencart is not easily configured to be just the "engine" for your e-commerce. In fact, you would really need to re-write most of the code!

But 1.3.8a is extremely flexible in terms of how it can be laid out and most website designs can be re-created in zencart.

**Z3NN3D** · 21 Jun 2009, 07:12 PM

You can always embed your Zen cart into an <iframe> within a table structure.
I've created a quick demo page at http://zenned.co.uk/testbed/

HTML Code:

<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-gb">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Embed Zen Cart</title>
</head>
<body>
<table border="0" width="100%" id="table1">
	<tr>
		<td colspan="2" bgcolor="#62D292"><font size="6" face="Verdana">My 
		Website</font></td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td valign="top"><iframe src="index.php" width="900" height="750" frameborder="0"> </iframe></td>
		<td width="234" valign="top">
		<table border="1" width="100%" id="table2" bgcolor="#62D292" bordercolor="#FFFFFF">
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
			<tr>
				<td>&nbsp;</td>
			</tr>
		</table>
		</td>
	</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

**Merlinpa1969** · 21 Jun 2009, 07:17 PM

You can use the Iframe thats true

however you will NOT get any indexing,
you will have a bit of a time with any payment or shipping mods that need to call out

paypal IPN for instance dosnt work right

best to use zen cart for the store and build your nav table in the right column ( there is a blank sidebox mod for this )

**schoolboy** · 22 Jun 2009, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by Z3NN3D

You can always embed your Zen cart into an <iframe> within a table structure.

I completely disagree... this is a BAD idea.

Merlin alludes to a couple of issues (- most payment gateways just will not work, they will reject transaction requests out of an i-frame), but there are many more potential problems - performance and security issues included!

**niccol** · 22 Jun 2009, 01:01 PM

And without wanting to labour the point - it is very easy to make a Zen Cart page look exactly like the example above. So why step into territory that is fraught with danger.

Both schoolboy and merlin are talking at a level above my head but even I could make a page that looked like the example. I would take their advice and spend my time on styling and let the default Zen Cart set up deal with security and payment issues.

They will both look the same. One route is easy and safe. The other is difficult and unsafe. Your choice.

Thread: Embedding zencart within another website?

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

Hybrid View

Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Re: Embedding zencart within another website?

Similar Threads

v139h Integrating a website within an EZ page

Changing domain to another name within same host

Store within a Website

Wrapping Zen-Cart within another site

Posting Permissions