Help With Template Customizations Please?

[Globie]

Hello fellow Zenners. I was wondering if someone can tell me how to go about doing this. I know enough (not a lot) about design (css and html) to get what I need done but I am no expert or even close to it in PHP.

I know how to create a custom template which I have done but what I am running into is completely customizing it to make it look exactly as I want it to.

This is what I've done, and I hope that I am explaining it correctly:

I have copied over the tpl_main_page file from templates_default/common to my custom folder. I have downloaded a template that I found on the web that I really like... and so what I am trying to do is use the code from that template and apply it to Zen Cart. The template I downloaded from the web has it's own CSS, so how do I get it to fit with the tpl_main_page and having all the functionality of Zen Cart???

I know there is a lot of hacking of code to do, I just don't know where to start. Can someone please help point me in the right direction?

Thank you!!

[Website Rob]

You really should view the Template Tutorials using the Tutorial/FAQ link, top of this page.

[Globie]

Umm, I have looked there, that was actually the very first resource I used... I mean, it's possible that I just didn't dig enough, but honestly I search and searched... even in the forums.

There is not a whole lot of information on how to go about hacking the tpl_main_page file to suit your needs...

Umm, so any other suggestions? Can you recommend a tutorial or link I may have missed?

[afo]

First of all, where did you get the template from that you're trying to use?

[Globie]

Hi Afo,

I found it here:

http://www.templates.com/blog/coffee...-templates-com

[afo]

Although you might be able to adapt one of those templates for Zen Cart, they weren't designed for Zen Cart. There are free templates available specifically for Zen Cart at http://(sorry, site offline)/

[Globie]

Thanks Mary, but I really like that one... you can tell when looking at a Zen Cart site, I really would like to adapt that one so it looks different...

Is there a way???

[gjh42]

It wouldn't be a big deal to make a homepage like that for Zen Cart, but there is no room in the template for most of ZC's e-commerce features. You would have to turn off all of the sideboxes and use some header features and mods for basic functionality, like a categories-tabs dropdown menu.

You need to do some thinking and sketching to decide approximately how you want to present the various features you actually need (and write a list of all the features you will use), before we can advise on how to get them to work for you.

[Globie]

Hi Glenn,

Well that does make sense... But actually, having the homepage like that would be a great start.

So are you saying it possible, just ridiculously cumbersome???

[gjh42]

Not cumbersome at all.

You would start by turning off all sideboxes in admin > Tools > Layout Boxes Controller, and applying the background to #contentMainWrapper in the stylesheet. You might want to keep column left/right enabled with a width setting as desired in Configuration > Layout Settings, just to keep the content clear of the background image on the sides.

The homepage content would go in define_main_page.php (in Tools > Define Pages Editor), with perhaps a wrapper div or two to apply the round-cornered box borders to in the stylesheet.

The header would get logo and background styling as required, and for starters you could enable the categories-tabs and ez-pages header bars to display essential navigation. These could later be replaced by more specialized navigation tools in the same general location.