Question on integrating with my existing website

[uuimages]

Hello,

I'm new to Zen Cart (I just downloaded it on Saturday) and I am wondering if I have to use Zen Cart templates or am I able to integrate into my website so I am using my own product pages?

Thank you

[stevesh]

Yes, and probably no.

Zencart was designed and intended to be your whole site, and isn't usable as a backend cart script for an existing HTML site. It is technically possible to add to Zencart's shopping cart from an external page, but isn't recommended. Post a link to your existing site, and we can advise as to the difficulty of converting the 'look' to a fresh Zencart installation (which you may not want to do anyway - if your site's been around a while, a facelift might be a good idea).

[schoolboy]

Remember too that if your existing site is based on "flat HTML pages", you will need to "un-learn" what you know about HTML.

While zencart will BUILD its "pages" using HTML protocols, it does so "dynamically" using PHP scripts and a MySQL database.

Each "page" does not exist until it is "called" by the site user(s). Zencart will cobble together all the elements a "page" needs (from data in the database, and resources like images, and other code files), and then deliver that page to the viewer's browser screen.

When the viewer clicks a link, or performs an action, the "page" they are on evaporates forever, and a new page is built by the software.

This DYNAMIC nature of zencart is common in all modern "CMS" websites, so weaving zencart into your existing site is technically very challenging.

HOWEVER... zencart is quite capable of taking your existing layout and content, and incorporating it into the zencart structure, so rather than trying to weave zencart into an existing HTML site, it is FAR EASEIR to weave an existing HTML site into zencart...